I am very delighted to welcome you to Nigeria’s premier technical university, First Technical University, Ibadan. We are a University that offers unique, functional and innovative tertiary education.
An initiative of the Oyo State Government, the University was established to combat the growing scourge of youth unemployment in Nigeria. The country is currently faced with myriads challenges relating to the empowerment, education and employment of its teeming youth. According to the National Population Commission (NPC, 2013), about half of Nigeria’s population of 182 million people is made up of youth (that is, individuals between 15 and 34 years). Yet, the combined admission capacity of the Nigerian University System, public and private, is barely up to 40% of qualified and eligible candidates.
A more fundamental problem is the persistent and growing complaint about gaps in the employability of Nigerian graduates; majority of whom are considered as not being market-ready. This gap is attributable in part to the apparent lack of entrepreneurial orientation of several academic programmes in the Nigerian University System.
Tech-U is pivoted on the foundation of the knowledge economy. This is with a view to running an Institution that would become the wealth and employment creation hub of Nigeria. Tech-U was birthed by a team of distinguished former Vice-Chancellors, eminent Professors and eminent entrepreneurs and professionals with considerable experiences in higher education and diverse works of life. From being a mere idea, the University today has evolved into a topnotch institution, committed to raising high performing experts adequately equipped to solve industry problems and to chart the course for revolutionary ideas that can develop the society. Through the deployment of the principles of Science, Engineering, Technology, Research and Innovation (SETRI) for societal transformation, the University is unwaveringly steadfast in its pursuit of effectively combating the unrelenting scourge of youth unemployment in Nigeria by producing outstanding graduates who are self-reliant and innovative.
Sited in Ibadan, West Africa’s largest city reputed for its many firsts in Africa, the First Technical University enjoys reckoning as Nigeria’s premier technical University. The University began operations in 2017 with the Faculties of Engineering and Technology and Natural Sciences, with the vision of a world-class institution fully grounded in entrepreneurial practices, unique innovation, sustainability science and international best practices. Known for its unique learning model of blended theoretical knowledge and practical skills, the University is committed to cultivating a cadre of technical professionals, with requisite entrepreneurial skills, capable of creating jobs and employment.
The Tech-U campus spreads on an expanse of 200 hectares of well-endowed land mass. The campus, inserted in the fledging Free Trade Zone Area of Ibadan projected to house a consortium of industries, is an excellent fit for academic adventure. Apart from its state-of-the-art facilities, the pastoral but absolutely enchanting ambience of the campus supports learning and research at the nation’s emerging science, technology and innovation hub. The University currently has a total of 15 academic programmes fully accredited by the National Universities Commission. These include: Mechatronics Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Food Sciences and Technology, Cyber Security, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Physics with Electronics, Petroleum Engineering, Industrial Chemistry and Statistics.
Although the University is wholly owned by the Oyo State Government, it runs on a public- private-partnership (PPP) model. As such, Tech-U is immune from the peculiar challenges bedeviling other public institutions in the country. Tech-U occupies a pride of place as Nigeria’s first self-sustaining public University.
With an array of first-rate and experienced teaching and non-teaching staff teaching, Tech-U nurtures students to become outstanding and globally-competitive critical thinkers, scholars, innovators and doers in a manner that provides radical societal transformation locally and internationally.