The University of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT, has graduated a total of 19,526 students, nearly hitting the 20,000 figure, with 161 of them bagging first class degrees.
This was disclosed by the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Owunari Georgewill, at the occasion to mark the 33rd combined convocation of the institution.
According to him, the convocation was mainly for students who finished their academic programmes for the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 academic sessions.
“The convocation was delayed due to COVID-19 and the eight months industrial action by different unions in the university.
“So, in the undergraduate category, we are expecting to graduate about 9,536 first degrees with 161 students out of the figure obtaining first class degrees.
He said the university would also graduate about 9,699 students with postgraduate degrees and diplomas.
“Out of this figure, about 1,028 will receive Doctor of Philosophy degrees (PhD); 3,745 Master degrees while 4,926 will receive their Postgraduate Diplomas.
Georgewill described convocation as a period of harvest that the university uses to rate the progress of the institution.
He said the university under his leadership had achieved remarkable milestones in the areas of infrastructure development, administration and Research and Development (R&D).
“Since we came onboard in July 2021, we have done all we could to ensure UNIPORT delivers its mandate of teaching, learning, R&D, community service and recently added entrepreneurship.
“Some of the things we introduced are “This Week in Retrospect,” where we provide our staff, students and stakeholders with in-depth weekly information to be abreast of happenings in the university.
“We have also strengthened our professional promotion which faced challenges owing to delays, while also improving the career structure of some staff members of the university,” he said.
He said UNIPORT had partnered both local and international institutions to establish an institute in the university to tackle climate change, partly responsible for recent flooding in the country.
On infrastructure, they have completed some of the newly initiated projects while works was in progress to complete other projects he met on ground.
“The projects we initiated when we came onboard that have been completed include faculty buildings, auditoriums as well as equipping our laboratories, among others.
“On research and development, we have signed several Memoranda of Understanding with several local and international institutions and universities because research is key to meeting industrial and societal needs.
He said lectures had commenced fully in the university with year one students concluding their second semester examinations recently.
The vice chancellor thanked President Muhammadu Buhari, Federal Ministry of Education, TetFund and Gov. Nyesom Wike for their support to the University.
