HISTORY OF UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS, NIGERIA (UNILAG).

Development of Faculties Founded in 1962, the University of Lagos has, for over 4 decades, provided quality and objective education to both Nigerian and its neighbours. The University has built a legacy of excellence and has been instrumental in the production of top range graduates and academia who have had tremendous impact, directly or indirectly, on growth and development in Nigeria. The honours and awards won testify to the positive impact of the University of Lagos on education and academic matters in Nigeria. Development of Faculties The idea of the University of Lagos was contained in the Report of the Ashby Commission on Post-School Certificate and Higher Education in Nigeria and the subsequent report of the Advisory Commission of the UNESCO for the establishment of the University presented to the Government in September, 1960. The University of Lagos was established by an Act of the Federal Parliament in ApriL 1962. Its development was planned to take place in three phases. The first phase began in October 1962 with the establishment of the Faculty of Business and Social Studies, the Faculty of Law and a Medical School which was conceived at the outset as an autonomous unit of the University and linked with a Teaching Hospital (LUTH). The second phase began in October, 1964 with the establishment of the Faculty of Engineering, the Schools of African and Asian Studies, Humanities, Biological Sciences, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, the College of Education, Continuing Education Centre (CEC). the Institute of Mass Communication and the Comparative Education Study and Adaptation Centre (CESAC). The third phase of the University's development was interrupted somewhat by the University crisis of 1965 followed by the national crisis of 1967-1970. In April, 1967, however, the Medical School officially became College of Medicine while the Faculty of Business and Social Studies was divided into the School of Administration and the School of Social Studies. By October 1971, the University comprised two Faculties: Engineering and Law seven Schools including that of Environmental Design; two Colleges: Medicine and Education; three Institutes including those of Computer Sciences and Child Health, and two Centres: CEC and CESAC. In an attempt to maximize the utilization of available manpower, and further encourage interdisciplinary cooperation, a restructuring of the teaching units was undertaken between 1972 and 1975. By 1976 the under listed Faculties had emerged from the existing Schools in addition to the two Faculties (Engineering and Law) which remained unaffected by the general structural changes since their establishment: Arts, Business Administration, Environmental Design, Science and Social Sciences. The College of Education had become a Faculty while the College of Medicine retained both its name and its autonomy. The following units had also been created: the Centre for Cultural Studies (1973/75) and the Institute of Education (1974). Physical Growth and Expansion It may be legitimately said that the high point of the physical development of the University was reached between 1981 and 1985 with the completion of the Senate House Complex (1984). From the point of view of academic growth, the following may be considered as some of the significant features: The merger of the Federal University of Technology, Abeokuta (FUTAB) with the University of Lagos in October 1984 and the former's redesignation as the College of Science and Technology (COST AB) (1985) and the subsequent transfer of courses to Lagos; The establishment ofthe University of Lagos International School in 1981 and its movement to a permanent site in October 1985; The formal establishment of a School of Postgraduate Studies on 22 July, 1981; The remarkable increase in student numbers at the undergraduate and graduate levels; from the rather modest intake of 131 students for the entire University in 1962, student enrolment in the University stood at 24,450 in 1995/96. In 1980, there were 456 graduate students, 1,203 in 1985 and 2,157 in 1990. Economic Growth The period between 1981 and 1991 may be described as "a decade of economic leanness." The University seemed to share in the economic woes of the country as it helplessly watched many of its facilities fall into disrepair, and several employees leave its services for greener pastures. There had, of course, been attempts to stem the tide of economic helplessness through the establishment of Unilag Consult and Unilag Enterprises (now Unilag Ventures). Since 1995, however, the University has made tremendous strides and succeeded much more in pulling down, halfway at least, its heavy cloak of economic dependency or helplessness by extending the range of its revenue generation activities and securing the generous financial involvement of individuals in restoring and even heightening its glorious image. The completion and/or inauguration of the under listed projects clearly suggest that the University is moving faster toward economic self-sufficiency, a reflection no doubt of resourcefulness and remarkable statecraft: Construction of two new hostels at the Faculty of Education Construction of a massive water reservoir near the Department of Mass Communication; Construction of a number of boreholes in the service area of the main campus; Construction of the first Junior Staff quarters, Phase I, along Lawani Road, off University Road, Abule-Oja; Painting of the Faculty of Arts building and of the old halls of residence both on the main campus and at the College of Medicine; Construction of a walkway linking the Faculty of Science with the Faculty of Engineering; Construction of the Unilag Consult Complex. Evolution of Academic Structure As an institution that seeks to remain relevant to its immediate environment, and to the country as a whole, because it is fully conscious of the socio-economic needs and realities of the nation and is thus willing to ensure its survival within the national fabric in the nex1 century, the University of Lagos has again recently reviewed its structures and academic programmes. The changes effected include the following: At the College of Medicine in the School of Clinical Sciences, the largest of the College's four Schools. two Departments have been merged into one thus bringing the twelve academic departments to eleven. The new Department of Radiation Biology, Radiotherapy and Radiodiagnosis has emerged from the Department of Radiation Biology and Radiotherapy and the Department of Radio diagnosis. The departments in the three other Schools remain the same. The Faculty of Arts has a new Department. The Department of Creative Arts has been established to provide programmes in Music, Theatre Arts and Fine Arts leading to a B.A. Degree in Creative Arts. The creation of this Department is tied to the "phasing" out of the Centre for Cultural Studies and its activities, except" those relating to auditoria management for which a Committee will be responsible. The Department of African Languages and Literature has been renamed the Department of African and Asian Studies, the name that the earlier School bore. The justification for the change of name lies in the prospect of the important role the continent of Asia will play and the relevance of Asian languages and cultures to Nigeria in the 21st century. The Department of Modern European Languages has been renamed the Department of European Languages. The interdisciplinary collaboration which was implied in the School of Business and Social Studies between academic members of staff of the Departments of Business Administration and Economics but seemed to have ceased with the separation of the unit into two Faculties with the undesirable but consequential duplication of courses as reflected by FIN 411- Development Economics and BUS 427 - Industrial Economics is advocated in the charge that the Department of Economics be responsible henceforth for the teaching of the two courses and other relevant courses after due consultations between the Faculties of Business Administration and Social Sciences. In the Faculty of Education, the Institute of Education which was initially set up to collaborate with the Faculty of Education and was assigned specific functions by the Senate of the University in N9vember 1979 has been phased out with the academic staff appropriately reassigned to departments of the Faculty for greater efficiency; The Engineering Analysis Unit ofthe Faculty of Engineering has been phased out and all members of the academic staff are required to move to departments in the University based on their academic backgrounds. In the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, the following changes have been made: The Department of Geography and Planning is henceforth to be known as the Department of Geography, the name it had when it was a Department in the Faculty of Arts (before it was transferred to Environmental Sciences), and is now a Department in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Its course codes are expected to reflect the Social Science base. The Department of Urban and Regional Planning has been resuscitated. The Department of Architecture and Design is now known as the Department of Architecture. In the Faculty of Science, two new Departments have been created out of the Department of Biological Sciences, namely: The Department of Botany and Microbiology and the Department of Zoology, Marine Biology and Fisheries. The Correspondence and Open Studies Institute (COSIT) has been renamed Distance Learning Institute. It has since December 1997 become autonomous, thus terminating its formal relationship with the Faculties of Business Administration, Science, and Education. Consequently, it can employ its own staff within or outside the University for its programmes. Source: unilag official website.