Professor Musbau Akanji, the Vice-chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT Minna), has disclosed that the higher institution had expelled up to 700 students.
He said the major reason for their expulsion is poor academic performance of the over 700 students during the recently concluded 2015/2016 academic session and that some of them were also advised to leave the school on the grounds of alleged bad behaviour.
The FUT Minna vice-chancellor made the remarks during the 30th matriculation ceremony of the university in Minna at which it matriculated 5,141 students for the 2016/ 2017 academic session.
Akanji stated that the institution had ceased to award the ‘pass’ mark for first degree courses, hinting at tougher academic standards.
“The score has been raised, most of those expelled cannot score above 1.5.
Concerning what other steps FUT Minna, under his leadership, was considering to address the reportedly high rate of failure, Akanji said tutorial lecturers from the university’s Postgraduate School would be engaged to assist undergraduate students.
We have investigated high number of failures and have put in place structures to address such.
The dismissal of such a large number of students over their academic performance is a cause for concern and one may wonder if there were no alternatives, especially considering that the vice-chancellor admitted that the school management only recently raised the benchmarks.
Forcing supposedly academically challenged students out in the cold, over 700 of them, leaves much to be desired and may rather inspire negative consequences such as a rise in crime rate.
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