Osun University Wins Six $300,000 Research Grants​, Gets Full MBBS Accreditation​

Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

The Nigerian Medical and Dental Council (NMDC) has given full approval and accreditation to Osun State University, UNIOSUN’s Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme.​

Briefing journalists at the weekend in the University Conference Room, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Clement Adebooye, expressed delight that the NMDC not only approved the MBBS programme but also increased the admission quota for the programme from 50 to 100.​

According to him, this has placed UNIOSUN’s MBBS programme at par with top Nigerian federal universities training medical doctors.​

The 100-quota could be increased further if the university can address two deficiencies within six months.

Osun State University started the MBBS programme with the approval of the National Universities Commission in 2012.​ The programme had to be discontinued shortly after due to some operational challenges.

​The discontinuation led to the transfer of the enrolled students to Ukraine by the state government to complete their programmes.​

The university revisited the issue under the vice-chancellorship of Prof Labo Popoola, my immediate predecessor, and decided to take the bull by the horns. The institution re-started the programme in 2018 with the admission of the pioneer set of students.​

In May this year, a powerful accreditation delegation from the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council (NMDC), led by the council’s registrar, Dr Tajudeen Adisa Bolanle Sanusi, visited the university to assess our resources, capacity and readiness for the programme.​

In another development, Adebooye informed that the institution had six grants of $300,000 in the last eight months through a team led by Monsuru Adeleke, a professor of Public Health Entomology and Parasitology.

​ He remarked that the university had won a research grant of $101,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.​

The study, titled ‘Entomological Parameters Towards Understanding Urban Malaria in Kano and Ibadan Nigeria’, will involve North-Western University, USA; Osun State University, Osogbo; University of Ibadan, Ibadan; and Bayero University, Kano.

The university won one of the nine Leeds University Centre of African Studies and the Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute Fellowships for 2022 (LUCAS-LAHRI).​ The grant was valued at £30,000, with the University of Leeds providing £1,000 and UNIOSUN supplementing with £2,000 through an earlier grant from the European Research Council.

The university also had a solid collaboration with the Centre for Africa Studies, Harvard University. Integration of UNIOSUN College of Humanities and Culture Seminar Series into the Harvard University African Studies Workshop. Staff Members from UNIOSUN are given the opportunity of virtual participation and presentation of their papers under the Harvard University African Studies Workshop Series.