LAUTECH Iseyin Campus Faces Uncertain Future Amid Dwindling Enrolment, Establishment Of FUA&T At Nearby Okeho
The College of Agricultural Sciences and Renewable Natural Resources, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Iseyin Campus, has seen the number of admission seekers reducing threatening the survival of the campus.
Investigations by ogbomosoinsightonline.com revealed that every session since the commencement of academic activities at the newly established campus the number of students admitted has been on the decrease.
“We are facing the challenge of reducing number of admission seekers,” a lecturer at the institution who spoke under conditions of anonymity informed Ogbomoso Insight Friday.
“We started with over 1500 students brought from the main campus in Ogbomoso but since then we have been having lower number of admission seekers. Moreover, many of them transfer to other faculties at 200 level, making our enrolment persistently declining. It is serious.”
The campus and the Iseyin town in general lack prerequisite resources, just as the commencement system adopted was deemed flawed.
“There are inadequate facilities such as lecture rooms, offices, research labs, research farms, demonstration plots, just as farm practical experience is lacking, and so students realised training in agriculture at the campus has become a flop, a scam, so, those already admitted seeing no prospects are leaving in droves and new students are not interested, many who do, come with the hope of changing to other faculties when they get to 200 level. The college no doubt faces existential threats,” the informant further disclosed.
Now, there are credible fears the survival threat might be aggravated with the establishment of the Federal University of Agriculture and Technology (FUA&T), Okeho, also in Oke-Ogun, which is a contiguous town to Iseyin, indeed less than 15 minutes drive.
Making it more challenging is that the site of the new university is along Okeho-Iseyin road giving prospective students the option of going to study at a satellite campus of a state university or main campus of a federal university offering same courses, programmes, and very close to each other.
Recall President Bola Tinubu recently signed the bill establishing FUA&T into law after it was passed by the Senate. That particular feat it was found out was celebrated at the Presidency because of the person it was honoured with, one Professor Gbadegesin, a pro-June 12 activist like President Bola Tinubu during the June 12 struggle. Prof Gbadegesin reportedly operated Radio Kudirat along with Tinubu in those heady days and so was said to have solicited the university in his town when asked what he wanted.
Thus, the university is expected to take off immediately fund is approved for the purpose.
“So, it’s an uncertain future for the Iseyin campus of LAUTECH,” another lecturer who also begged for anonymity, posited. “It is obviously a choice between a fully-grounded federal university and a shaky, off-main campus of a university with the same programmes in the same axis, less than ten kilometres apart. The prognosis for LAUTECH Iseyin campus isn’t good at all.
“The chicken is coming to roost now. We counseled against it then. Nobody is against an institution being established in Iseyin. But it shouldn’t have excised a faculty from an existing one. Establish an entirely new institution or an institute affiliated with LAUTECH’s Faculty of Agriculture. But taking a whole faculty in one fell swoop was a wrong approach. But they did not listen.”
Ogbomoso Insight reports that major stakeholders including students, lecturers, parents and education experts protested the move but the state government remained adamant forcefully taking the then 200 level students to the satellite campus.
But experience has shown that the experiment is seriously challenged owing to the large number of students in the face of inadequacy of facilities such as accommodation for both students and staff, offices, classrooms, training facilities and so on.
LAUTECH’s TETFUND allocations now split among four institutions
Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) of the federal government, disbursed for the provision or maintenance of essential physical infrastructure in government – owned institutions, and also for material and equipment, research and publications, training and development of academic staff etc, meant for LAUTECH are now being distributed among the Oyo state government’s run tertiary institutions i.e. LAUTECH, Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo, First Technical University, Ibadan and the LAUTECH Iseyin campus.
