OAU’s student intake drops after five-department disaccreditation

Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) has experienced a drop in student intake after five years of increase.

An analysis of OAU’s admission statistics over the past five years by TheCable showed that the number of admitted students for the 2018/2019 admission session deviated from prior figures.

OAU admitted a total of 8,158 students during its 2017/2018 admission session, but dropped by a margin of 1,508 students in the just concluded 2018/2019 admission session, having matriculated a total of 6,650 students.

Here is a breakdown of the admission figures since 2014:

• 2014(2013/2014)- 5,608
• 2015(2014/2015)- 6500
• 2016(2015/2016)- 7,500
• 2017(2016/2017)- 7,500
• 2018(2017/2018)- 8,158
• 2019(2018/2019)- 6,650

Abiodun Olanrewaju, the university’s public relations officer, blamed the sharp drop on the disaccreditation of five departments of the institution by the National University Commission (NUC) in 2018.

The affected departments were Law; Dentistry; Fine & Applied Arts; Family Nutrition and Consumer Sciences.

Speaking in the event of OAU’s 2018/2019 matriculation ceremony, Eyitope Ogunbodede, the institution’s vice-chancellor, congratulated fresh students for making it out of well over 37,000 applicants that sat for post UTME.

He also reiterated his commitment to creating an enabling environment for learning through plans to add over 10,000 hostel spaces to the existing ones by partnering with investors.

He added that there are already plans to mitigate the persistent transportation problem that has been faced by students residing off campus following the implementation of a new accommodation policy during the previous academic session.

Additional reporting by Uthman Samad