Caleb, a foremost Nigerian Private University and New Horizons, a leading largest ICT training institution have signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a view to integrating international ICT and e-business certifications into the university’s academic curricular.
At the MoU signing event in the University recently, the Vice Chancellor, Professor DijiAina was full of excitement at the great opportunities, which the programme will primarily accord the students, irrespective of their academic disciplines, and the relevant university staff members who will also enjoy periodic staff training.
The VC reiterated that the seamless mandatory schedule will guarantee that every student of the university will undergo specialised international certification-based professional IT and e-business skills training and acquire a minimum of four international professional licenses in lucrative technologies.
He reasoned that given the global economic challenges and the shrinking employment opportunities worldwide and in Nigeria especially, Caleb University graduates will be able to use the extra internationally validated professional skills-set as the “Icing on their B.Sc and BA academic cakes’’ to become the toast of the employers for lucrative jobs as well as get opportunity to become self-employed as Specialists and Consultants in these globally hot skills and certification areas.
He expressed the joy at the twin advantages that the strategic partnership will bestow on the staff members in terms of the free of cost refresher ICT and E Business trainings that will boost their official and personal productivity and the second benefit of an annual financial awards/prizes that will be won by three best academic lecturers for academic excellence.
The Managing /CEO of New Horizons Nigeria, Mr. Tim Akano, commended the visionary management of the university for the partnership initiative. He restated the necessity for such strategic synergies between the academics and the industry in this information age, such that the university will regain and fulfil their traditional role of serving as the “manufacturing/incubating house’’ for production of future fully–baked graduates empowered with both academic excellence and ICT-driven professional competences for both the employment and self- employment industry.
Akano equally recapped that the programme would further serve to augment the Webometric ranking of the university, since the training infrastructure to be supplied by New Horizons including, 100 computers, smart interactive boards, networking, original high-end software, and top international professional skills and certifications like: Androids, Robotics, CISA, Oracle, Java Programming, Multimedia, Information Security, among others, constitute variables that will boost the IT-driven stance of Caleb University as part of the global ranking metrics.
Akano said such strategic collaboration has been confirmed to be working through the relative edge that products from notable universities like Babcock, Bowen, Redeemer, Salem, Lead City, Adeleke, Mkar, Samuel Adegboyega, and others that have deployed such international professional schemes, are having good time with employers both nationally and internationally.
