More feathers on Gregory University's cap

Although it is gradu­ating its first set of students this year, Gregory University, Uturu, is reputed to be the best private university in the Eastern part of the country. Both from the quality of its infrastructure, the relevance of its courses to the socio-economic develop­ment of the country, and the quality of its staff member­ship, the university, which is situated at the serene undu­lating hills and valleys of the rural university town of Ut­uru, the new citadel of learn­ing has added another plume to its cap.

Last month, the National University Commission for­mally approved the Law de­gree programme for the in­stitution. That was sequel to a rigorous process and in­vestigations by the NUC which led to its approval of the programme, at the same time many other universities that had also applied for the accreditation of the course fell by the wayside. The hap­py news was communicated to the university via a 27th July letter, signed by Dr. G. B. Kumo, the director of Ac­ademic Standards, on behalf of the executive secretary of the commission.
In the letter, the director of academic standards re­called that a resource eval­uation visit had earlier been made by a panel of experts to a proposed academic programme of the Gregory University, with the view of assessing the human and ma­terial available for the estab­lishment of the programme which the university had ap­plied for.
The letter then informed the Vice Chancellor of the university that, “I am di­rected to inform you that the Management Commit­tee, during its 496th meet­ing held on Wednesday, 27th July 2016 considered and ap­proved the establishment of the full-time mode of the under-listed programme to be run in the campus of the university only, effective from the 2016/2017 pro­gramme…” The NUC let­ter went ahead to define the under-listed programme as ‘Law’ and to award an LLB degree.
According to the licence granted by the NUC, Greg­ory University is not per­mitted to run a part-time or off campus of the Law pro­gramme, as any such other programme outside the full time, on-campus version which has been approved by the university, would re­quire a fresh application and assessment.
Speaking to The Authori­ty at the university’s liaison office at Abuja, its chancel­lor, Chief Dr Greg Ibe ex­pressed his satisfaction with the decision of the NUC, say­ing that he had no doubt that the approval would be grant­ed, due to the solid invest­ments the university is mak­ing to achieve the lofty goals that it has set for itself. Ac­cording to Dr. Ibe, Nigeria has many other universities and so, anybody or organi­sation setting up a new uni­versity must made up their mind and explore new areas that would make such an in­stitution to meet the devel­opment needs of the society or the environment which it intends to serve.
For him, “Gregory Univer­sity Uturu was set up to pro­duce God fearing, ethical­ly sound and highly skilled global leaders who will drive technology and socio-economic advancement of themselves, the nation and the society at large”. The uni­versity, which started in the 2012/2013 session, according to Ibe, also has as its mission the avowed determination to instil in all its graduates the necessary skills and compe­tencies as well as the zeal and inspiration to excel as cham­pions in their chosen fields.
It is in order to achieve these lofty aims, The AU­THORITY learnt, the uni­versity operates the colle­giate system, which took off at the onset with the colleg­es of Humanities, Social and Management Sciences and College of Applied Sciences. By the following (2013/2014) session, Gregory University added four more colleges, namely, the College of Medi­cine and Surgery, the College of Engineering, the College of Environmental Sciences and the College of Agricul­ture.
At its relatively young age, the ambitious university al­ready offers 40 courses at a graduate level and intends to expand further. The new ed­ifices and structures sprout­ing at the massive campuses give credence to the large vi­sion of the university.