A team of officials from the World Bank and the Association of African Universities (AAU) paid a courtesy visit to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Folasade T. Ogunsola, FAS at the Senate house on Monday, January 23, 2023.Led by its Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant, Mr. Schenineda Kweku Ankomah, the team is in the University to verify the ACE impact project, tagged DLI 7.6 which focuses on the digital infrastructure and network capacity of the university,According to Mr. Ankmah, the visit is part of an assessment exercise by the World Bank on beneficiary institutions such as the University of Lagos (UNILAG) which received financial support in order to scale up postgraduate education and applied research that are fundamental to economic growth in the region.
The visit provided an opportunity for the team to congratulate Professor Ogunsola, following the recent investiture as the first female Vice-Chancellor of the 60 -year old institution.
In response, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ogunsola welcomed and thanked the team for the warm wishes. She lauded the team for the impact the Africa Centers of Excellence project (ACEs) has had on beneficiary institutions in the region, noting that it continued to address higher-level skills development needs and innovative research requirements within the continent.
Prof. Ogunsola while assuring the team of the institution’s drive to be fully automated within the next 5 years, revealed that the DL1 7.6 aligns with some of the university’s priority development in which digital technology is apparent.
The World Bank in May 2018 launched the third phase of the Regional Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence (ACE) with 15 other Nigerian Universities as beneficiaries.
The University of Lagos won the African Centre of Excellence for Drug Research, Herbal Medicine Development & Regulatory Science (ACE-DHARS) in 2019. Consequently the World Bank, AAU inspection team is expected to tour the center’s projects.