Public Lecture and Occasional Papers

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Browsing Public Lecture and Occasional Papers by Author "Banjo, A."

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    Open Access
    Learned Academies and Social Responsibility
    (Unilag Press, 2014-06-09) Banjo, A.
    I should like, to begin with, to thank the Vice-Chancellor and the entire University of Lagos for the honour of being invited to give this year's Convocation Lecture of the University. At a time when the number of universities in the country seems to be increasing by leaps and bounds, we should recognize the special place of a university like this one, which pioneered the offering of degree and postgraduate studies in the area of the professions, at a time when the nation's premier university, the University of Ibadan, was still preoccupied with the traditional image of a university. The picture has changed somewhat since 1960, but the leadership of Lagos in professional studies has to be recognized; and I hasten to add that this has in no way jeopardised the University's excellence in all the other programmes that it offers. The proliferation of universities in this country will inevitably lead us to the position in many other countries, where universities are categorized in terms of excellence. It is mere wishful thinking to expect that all the two hundred universities in the country will be of the same quality. When that categorization crystallizes, Lagos will surely be in the First Division, not because it is today described as a member of the so-called first generation of universities, but because, like a few other universities, it is the model to influence many of the universities at present being established, and those predictably to be established in the future. My hope is that, as in other countries, our First Division universities will receive a special attention both of the government and of the private sector.