FUNAI partners University of Kent on research, others
The Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi State is to partner the University of Kent, United Kingdom in the areas of teaching, learning and research.
The Director of the Centre for Internationalization, Linkages, Advancement and Global Ranking, Dr. AfamIcha-Ituma made this known as a result of a recent visit where he led a delegation of the University on a collaborative visit to the University of Kent.
“We are delighted to be at the University of Kent to discuss collaborative opportunities with the University. FUNAI is committed to working with top Universities abroad with similar ambitions, values and aspirations
“Our vision of collaboration is a two-way process providing mutual support to enhance opportunities for staff and students to collaborate with our partner universities in research, teaching and learning, he stated.
Icha-Ituma noted that the visit was geared towards discussing international partnership between the two institutions.
“The visit also provided us with the opportunity to explore the University of Kent and to identify other possible areas where substantive mutually beneficial partnerships could take place between the two institutions.
“FUNAI is going to take advantage of these numerous competencies to advance its frontiers of teaching, learning and research in order to turn-out globally competitive graduates.
“Through this partnership, FUNAI would be seeking to create opportunity for its staff and students to collaborate on research projects with world class scholars at the University of Kent, enhance teaching and learning, create opportunity for staff and student exchange programmes, enhance the employability of its students and the global ranking of the University.
“This relationship will give FUNAI curriculum an international perspective and also enhance the staff and students’ cultural understanding through working alongside staff and students from the University of Kent in the future.
He added that the University of Kent has assented to support FUNAI in setting up a world class Teaching and Learning Centre to enable its members of staff improve their teaching and enhance students’ learning experience.
According to him, “The Director of the Unit, Dr. Louise Naylor gave the commitment of the University of Kent towards collaborating with like-mind Universities which FUNAI has shown a lot of seriousness in trying to turn around its teaching, learning and research processes to make it relevant and productive”, he said.
The Dean Faculty of Education, Dr. Chinyere Nwajiuba, expressed delight in the development, adding that the collaboration would improve the global visibility of the University academic activities.
“The faculty is looking forward to working very closely with the University of Kent to set up a Centre for Enhancing Teaching for Students Learning Experiences (CETSLE) within the Faculty of Education to serve the academic staff of the faculty and the university.
“This is to ensure improvement in quality teaching across the faculties of the University. Teaching staff will be assisted and encouraged to become effective in their teaching roles by adopting innovative pedagogical techniques to produce learning outcomes for students in context of higher education,” she said.
Moses Oyediran, Enugu
