Fountain, USVarsity Partner on Medical Programme

The management of Fountain University, Osogbo is partnering a US-based institution, Duke University, North Carolina to transfer technologies and equipment for the take-off of its medical programme.

The newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of Fountain University, Professor Amidu Sanni, who announced the partnership recently, said the institution as part of measures to increase the number of courses it offers and serve one of its core purpose, has secured another partnership with the Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia to boost its Centre for Open and Distance Learning programme.

He said one of the programmes that would be offered by the centre is Diploma in Arabic, Islamic and International Studies. “The institution will meet proprietors of Arabic schools across the state and impress on them the need to teach their students with uniform curriculum to make them eligible for the diploma programme.”

While identifying fund- ing as a major challenge, Sanni called on the federal government to assist private universities through the provision of infrastructural and humanitarian support for them.

The VC appealed to President Mohammadu Buhari to find means of assisting private university operators since they are playing a critical role of educating the populace.

On his plans to address the challenge of funding, Sanni said: “We are looking inward to generate funds that can be used for our university. The federal government should consider infrastructural and humanitarian supports because graduates produced from private universities are also Nigerians.

“With Harvard University in US and Cambridge University in the UK, less than 20 per cent of their funding comes from the government. They get funding from grants, donations from private organisations. We are looking inward to generate funds that can be used for our university. We are thinking of Fountain University Ventures to generate funds.”