L-R: Professor Djamel Ait-Boudaoud, Professor Odigure, Professor John Craven, Professor Muhammed Audu, Professor Paul Hayes and Mr Bello
Specialists in science, technology and maths at the University of Portsmouth could be working more closely with their counterparts in Nigeria, thanks to a high-level visit to the city.
Professor Muhammed Audu, Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology in Minna, Nigeria, spent a day meeting academics in Portsmouth yesterday.
He and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth, Professor John Craven, had earlier signed a memorandum of understanding which, for two years, will see an exchange between the two of ideas, staff, students, research projects and materials.
Professor Audu is keen to invite Portsmouth academics to visit Minna as visiting professors to help support the growing demand for technology and science-based courses.
He spent the morning meeting the Dean of Technology, Professor Djamel Ait-Boudaoud, and staff from the Schools of Computing and Engineering and the Department of Maths, to discuss joint research opportunities at all levels, including for PhD students, and see Portsmouth’s facilities. In the afternoon he met the Dean of Science, Professor Paul Hayes, and met specialists in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He also met PhD students, including some from Nigeria who are now studying for post-graduate degrees in Portsmouth.
Portsmouth is home to 233 students from Nigeria, including some Master’s students who attended the Federal University of Technology in Minna. The Federal University of Technology in Minna is government owned and opened in 1983 with the main objective being to help provide Nigeria with skilled graduates in science, engineering and technology. It is a specialised University of Technology.
Professor Audu was joined on his visit by Professor Odigure, MinnaFUT’s director of centre for open distance and e-learning, and Mr Bello, MinnaFUT’s bursar.
