Tim Akano
26 September 2007
Lagos — Covenant University has further lifted the hope of a brighter future for Nigerian nation and Africa in general in the quest to bridge the digital divide between African continent and the developed countries of the world. This was achieved recently when undergraduates of the university qualified as International Sun Java Certified Programmers. This is coming in less than 4 months of the commencement of an IT Training Partnership between the university and New Horizons (an international IT Training Company)
According to the results of the students on display, 100% success rate was recorded by the students that were formally presented for the examination. Also, the average score of the students in the examination was 75% as compared to 59% which is the international official pass mark for Sun Java certification examination. On their part, the students whose ages rank between 17years and 19 years expressed their joy at having become IT professionals when they are still in school and were elated that their futures are already taking good shape
While commenting on the landmark achievement, Mr. Akano the MD of New Horizons said with this form of excellence, the Total Man Concept being pursued by the University is further boosted as the products from the University now combine: moral integrity, academic excellence and IT professionalism .He said all of these will equip them with attributes and skills that will make them to be highly employable by international and local employers as well as make those of them with entrepreneurial spirit become wealth creators immediately after graduation. In his words, the students were coached with world class contents and world class facilities which are the hallmark of New Horizons Brand in all the 60 countries of the world where it operates.
Speaking further, Akano said the IT Training Partnership between Covenant University and New Horizons is a good example of the Federal Government's much touted Public Private Partnership / Private Private Partnership ( PPP) and it is the surest way of jump- starting the comatose economies of most African countries and get them aligned with those of the European and American countries that are market -driven . According to him, India and China that were one time faced with serious economic depression got bailed out by focusing on IT early enough through Private/Public alliances and today they are reaping bountifully from global IT outsourcing market which is in excess of 350 Billion US dollars annually.
The Partnership between the University and New Horizons involves installation of international standard Computer laboratory and deployment of contents on International IT Certifications Courses by New Horizons such that the undergraduates will be able to acquire a minimum of 4 International IT Certifications in addition to their academic degrees before graduating from the University.
Indeed, a 500 level undergraduate of the University, Master Timi Soyele who had earlier qualified in Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) and Certified Hacker Forensic Investigator (CHFI) and Linux Security through New Horizons, had secured employment as an IT Security Consultant even while still in school. The good old days indeed are back at Covenant University where students get employment letters before graduation.
Explaining the implication of this development on a wider level, Mr Akano said the benefits accruable from this to the University is that the University can now make their Certified students to write or develop Software / Programme for various development Projects they have. This is what is being done by top Universities like Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in USA and with such developments, the University will be able to save money that otherwise would have gone to hiring external IT vendors. Also, such developed Solutions can be commercialized in the future as other source of revenue to the University. Speaking further, He said the other benefit of producing these Young IT Experts to Nigeria and University Education system is that, it will re-position Nigeria as a veritable destination for outsourcing of IT Experts as being enjoyed by India as well as improve the Nigerian Universities' ranking in the world rating since the rating is mostly based on IT-driven nature of Universities' operations. He said it will be recalled that APPLE COMPUTERS and GOOGLE BOYS all had an early contact with IT, which was accountable for their early breakthroughs as entrepreneurs. Indeed, Bill Gates the world richest man wrote his first Software at Age 13 while Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Computers started his business at age 19. All these feats are about to happen in Nigeria with the excellent performance of Covenant students in Programming Certifications.
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