UNN: Pay Your fees or Stall Your PG Programme – Ubachukwu
The Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Prof. Augustine A. Ubachukwu has advised postgraduate students who have not paid their school fees in the 2013/2014 session to do so or they would be forbidden from participating in academic activities in their various departments.
Speaking during an interaction with staff of the Public Relations Unit, the Dean said the advice was against the discovery that students deliberately allowed their fees to accumulate with the intention of circumventing the payment at the end of their programme.
“We have written to Heads of Department to ensure that students who have not paid their fees are not allowed to take examinations and present seminars. We would not invite external examiners for students who are owing or approve their synopsis”, he said.
The Dean disclosed that his vision for the School of Postgraduate Studies is to promote academic excellence through frontline research. According to him, “every Ph.D student should be able to have at least one publication in an international journal of repute before graduation”.
He added that his administration would ensure that all bottlenecks that prevented students from completing their programmes in record time would be removed, stating that he would also prioritize the admission of quality research students into postgraduate programme using the postgraduate screening examination as basis for their entrance assessment.
On measures taken to fast track collection of postgraduate certificates and transcripts, Prof. Ubachukwu said he had instructed staff of the school to ensure that issues involving collection of certificates and transcripts were handled within 24 hours, otherwise be referred to him or to the secretary of the school for appropriate action.
Prof. Ubachukwu took over from Prof. Polycap Chigbu as the acting Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies, in April 2013, and became the substantive Dean of the School in February 26, 2014. He joined the services of the University of Nigeria as lecturer one in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in 1991, and rose through the ranks to become a Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1999. Until his present appointment, Prof. Ubachukwu was the Head, Department of Computer Science, in the University of Nigeria Nsukka.