ICT of Pride

The wonderful Silicon Valley of today was not built in one day, in fact its story will not be complete without remembering the man who first set out to make it a world destination for telecommunication research - Professor Frederick Emmons Terman of  Stanford  University. The faculty of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the Federal University of Technology Minna was set up and commenced operation in the 2009/2010 Academic Session under the administration of the Vice chancellor, Professor M. S. Audu, a globally recognized authority in Abstract Mathematics, an administrator par excellence equipped with a passionate commitment for implementing and developing information and communication technology. The faculty had Professor Joseph O. Odigure as its pioneering Dean who did tremendously well in setting up the foundation of today’s Prof. Audu’s ICT faculty of pride.

With a vision to be the world class centre of Excellence in training and research in information and communication technology in Nigeria, the faculty is on a mission to build excellent research capacity and develop high quality human capacity through pragmatic and Dynamic Training, Research and Entrepreneurial services for the Information and Communication Technology Sector in Nigeria in Particular and the world at Large 

Blessed with a very conducive ICT complex which is a modern master piece of novel architecture, the faculty is also lucky to have one of the best team of staff drawn from leading research and academic institutions across the globe as well as state of the art equipments for learning and research, the faculty is already on a suitable altitude for safe cruising.

Today, the faculty of ICT has over 130 staff, interestingly many of the staff are currently enjoying staff development study opportunities in world class institutions.

Beginning with only a hand full of students in 2009, the faculty today, has grown to over a population of 1500 students, undergoing Bachelor degrees programs in Computer engineering(CPE), Telecommunication engineering, Computer Science (CS),Information and Media Technology (IMT), Cyber security Science (CSS) as well as Library and Information Technology(LIT). The Post-Graduate programs have also become a side attraction to many students all over Nigeria.

Towards ensuring the implementation of information and communication technology,

-         The university’s information Technology service (ITS) has also been established, which currently runs a 2 year diploma program in Computer Networking, Web development and Database management. Asides been a Cisco networking academy certified institution for internationally accredited training.

-         Also a 24hrs campus wide internet facility is made available via both cable network to lecture rooms, offices and laboratory and also wireless wide area network for the general university community

-         And finally the all computerized electronic test centre.

Additionally, the newly found Centre for Open Distance & e-Learning (CODeL) is another great achievement worth chronicling. CODel enables students to achieve the same quality of university education with regular university students but with the advantage of been open distance learning on ICT platforms. Students will not need to stay on campus as course material and lectures are all via e-media. At present time the centre offers B Tech programmes in Mathematics, Physics, Information Technology, Mathematics Education, Physics Education, Computer, Science, and Cyber Security Science. Other programmes shall be introduced as the relevant requirements are satisfied by the responsible Departments.

 Thanks to God for the foresightful leadership of our ICT compliant Father, the Federal University of Technology Minna has become a hub for developing the next generation of ICT global giants.

Reposted from 20th Nov 2012.