By Amaechi Agbo and Onyekachi Agu

The Vice-Chancellor, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, Professor Aloysius-Michaels Okolie has canvassed of an inter-exchange of lecturers among all universities in Enugu State.  

The VC disclosed this during an interaction with ESUT Monitor. He explained that the idea became necessary in view of the need to not only cross-fertilise ideas among the universities but it will also help in no small measure to upgrade the lecturers.

Professor Okolie added that apart from discussing the idea with his counterpart at Godfrey Okoye University, he has also made the presentation to the Enugu State Government.

“Few days ago I was engaging with the Godfrey Okoye University Vice-Chancellor and I came up with another crazy idea, I told him that we need to have a meeting for all universities for example in Enugu; two weeks in a month to have inter-exchange of lecturers. Lecturers in your Accountancy Department come and teach your course in ESUT, then lecturers in ESUT go to your school and teach. We will provide mobility and allowance.

“Let’s see when you get to another school if they have interactive board whether you know how to use it, you will then know be force to develop in line with the turning of digitalization across the world. And he bought into that idea and said in August we shall process it further.

“I threw that open again to the Government of Enugu state, when I was making my presentation and the SSG said ‘Ahh, a crazy idea.’ The lecturers will see need for that, so that if I have been using a 1940’s lecture note if I get to Godfrey Okoye University and use it maybe their students will expose me, which means it will charge all of us to begin to work harder as lecturers. It is because you stay without mobility in a particular location that will make you to be so academically complacent that you don’t want to refresh yourself.

“Why I presented it before the governor as part of my second year strategic plan overview for an adoption by the Government was for them to discover that there are more ideas that are already locked up in all tertiary institutions that could be tasked. We spent over four and half hours there debating on issues as it concerns tertiary education in Enugu state,” The VC concluded.

There are seven universities in Enugu state made up of one federal, two state and four private varsities.

The universities are: University of Nigeria, Nsukka (Federal); Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT and Enugu State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS) and owned by the State Government

Privately owned universities include: Caritas University, Godfrey Okoye University, Renaissance University and Coal City University.