The Vice Chancellor of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, Professor Aloysius-Michaels Okolie, on Thursday, said that the dream of the present Management of the University is to equip the staff and students of the Institution with requisite skills to proffer solutions to societal problems.

He also said that the University is making plans to improve its revenue base  through robust partnerships and collaborations with the ‘town and gown.’

While insisting that Management of tertiary institutions should  wear their thinking caps,  he maintained that  the ever dwindling budgetary allocations to education sector would not be enough to guarantee the efficient running of tertiary institutions and financing of quality research outputs which would position the nation on the path of sustainable development.

He made the call during his opening address at the 2023 annual international conference organized by the Faculty of Management Sciences of the University tagged ‘Digitalization of Educational System through Entrepreneurship and Business Models for Sustainable Economy: The Practical Approach.’

“ESUT of our time is the University that is reliving the basic values of our founding fathers. We are the University of science and technology, that is why the dream of the present Management is to see more emphasis on skills acquisition and capacity building. If we want to give percentage, we would give 40% to the certificate, and 60% to technical skills.

“The world has shifted from certificate brandishing to what you can offer, and there is no other university that should take that lead other than a University that prides herself as an Institution that projects science and technology. That was why we started earlier than now to talk about bringing the town and gown together to solve societal problems.

“We have constituted a committee to make the Faculty of Engineering the Centre of Excellence in ESUT because what we want to do in this University is to have a university that would be self-financing in years to come. We have carried out technical and feasibility studies and found out that it is possible.

” To be a university is to project universal principles, and that universal principles would be such that would activate the inner qualities and capacities of man. So, the beginning and end of scholarship is the man.  Weighed on the scale, human ingredients outweighs non human factors in the shaping of the political and economic systems. Which means that for a society to be transmuted from a smaller form to a high qualitative form, man must be the agent for change,” he said.

He further said that he wants ESUT branded products and services to flood the markets and generate revenue for the University and Enugu State at large.

He also noted  that  ESUT has already engaged vendors that would make the vision a reality.

The Vice Chancellor commended the Dean of the Faculty, Professor Chioma Oleka, for putting the conference together, adding that the outcome would help to reposition the mindset of the academia in dealing with present challenges.

The conference was attended by scholars and stakeholders from within and outside Nigeria, including the former Senate President, Ken Nnamani.

Photo:Former Senate President, Ken Nnamani (middle); ESUT VC, Prof. Aloysius-Michaels Okolie (4th right); and other stakeholders during an annual international conference organized by Faculty of Management Sciences, ESUT.