The thrust of my message this year is anchored on a very important reason, we are all here in UNIOSUN and the reason is the pursuit of scholarship and academic excellence. Let me make it clear to you, as you resume today that university education is not a tea party. I reminisce on my own beginning as an undergraduate student at the University of Ibadan- a time full of fun, ambition and gusto.

You have come from all over the country and across all the states of Nigeria to join a very special part of the State of Osun- Osun State University, fondly called UNIOSUN. This is a University that nurtures a vision of the purest scholarship, of research driven by curiosity and by the intrinsic challenge of the unknown, of research that transcends just our immediate problems. At UNIOSUN we ask the biggest, most fundamental questions: what are we for? What is the essence of university education? What role(s) is the university expected to play in nation building? How do we resolve and find answers to the question of access to higher education? What is expected of higher education in nation building? How do we approach these questions? How does it work? Where are we going? Where should we be going? What can we do to make Nigeria great? How do we go about it? Are we there yet? These are big questions that we always seek to collectively find answers to.

As you are aware, we live in a world of speed - of faster communications, faster travels, faster trades, faster time to market, faster results. Time is indeed a precious resource that we should not waste. Yet there is so much we miss, so much we fail to understand if we don’t regard time itself as an opportunity.. True scholarship requires you to ask questions that you may never be able to answer, to follow leads that may prove to be dead ends, to explore with a rigour and a depth that require persistence as well as discipline. As such, I enjoin you to ask questions all the time. In your lecture rooms, libraries, hostels and even during your fun-catching times, let quest for knowledge spur new questions from within you.

Last year when I assumed duties as the Vice Chancellor of your university, I committed myself to building an atmosphere that promotes and engender robust scholarship as well as ensure students’ support. This year while this commitment is a “work in progress”, I like to re-commit myself to you all, that while, my tenure lasts, I will continue as I have done in the last one year to find solutions to how we will make your stay in UNIOSUN a very pleasurable and memorable one. So I want to congratulate you for the choice you have made and encourage you in your dedication to it. Your work must be driven by the logic and the power of the questions it seeks to answer, not by a ticking clock. You must learn to revel in the power of patience and personal intuition.

To the returning students, my message to you this academic session, is never to take your academics for granted. The era of believing that there is a short-cut to success is gone. And there can only be one way and this is the “HIGH WAY” to being true to yourselves. I like to advise you never to take your studies for granted for any reason. Mind the company you keep, manage your meager resources prudently and apply wisdom in all that you do.

Finally as I welcome you all again, and encourage you in your dedication to your studies, I like to promise the commitment of my colleagues and I towards your welfare and success throughout your sojourn in UNIOSUN. I commit you all into the mighty hands of our Creator. ALL SHALL BE WELL WITH YOU.

Welcome to 2017/2018 ACADEMIC SESSION!

Labode POPOOLA
Vice-Chancellor