A total of 174 students from the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom, will be awarded first class  at the institution’s combined convocation ceremony on Saturday.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Nyaudoh Ndaeyo, disclosed this in Uyo on Tuesday at a news conference to kickstart the 29th and 30th combined convocation ceremony of the institution.

Ndaeyo said that the university would be graduating a total of 12,450 students during the ceremony.

“1,167 persons will be awarded postgraduate degrees, 10,835 others will bag bachelor’s degrees, 411 students will be awarded diplomas, while 37 persons will earn certificates,” he said.

The vice chancellor said that the university produced 56 first class graduates in the 2020/2021 academic session.

He said, “Let me also inform that in the 2021/2022 session, the university produced a total of 118 first class graduates.’’

Mr Ndaeyo said that the university was running a total of 100 programmes in 117 departments under 19 faculties.

He said that 90 per cent of the university’s programmes had received full accreditation from the National Universities Commission.

Mr Ndaeyo said that the university management gave priority to the welfare of the students in order to ensure adequate motivation for learning.

“We have entered into a public-private partnership agreement for the building and equipping of more hostels for our students. The university management attaches high premium to staff welfare and we ensure that promotions are released promptly,” he said.

The vice chancellor announced that the university would confer honorary doctoral degrees on Chief Effiong Afiakurue, Mrs Halima Zakari and Dr Itanwan James.

He further said that a former vice chancellor of the institution, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, would be conferred with the status of Honorary Professor Emeritus.

Mr Ndaeyo further said that the university was facing the challenges of insecurity, inadequate funding, manpower shortage and encroachment on its land.

(NAN)