By Waziri Isa Gwantu
The management of the Federal University Dutsin-Ma (FUDMA) has organized a one-day capacity building workshop for about 200 staff recently converted from non-teaching to teaching cadre, to equip them with requisite skills for effective teaching, research and community service.
Declaring the workshop open, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mohammed Khalid Othman, congratulated the participants on their transition, stressing the importance of the training in preparing them for their new responsibilities as academic staff.
Prof. Othman said the training was designed to sensitize the new staff with requisite knowledge, skills and ethical modalities to professionally excel in their new cadre.
“Universities are training grounds for people to become future scholars, administrators, entrepreneurs, leaders and virtually anything in life, as well as a place that dissects societal problems and proffers solutions to them,” he said.
He noted that training and re-training are essential for effective service delivery, and advised the Directorate of Academic Planning and Monitoring to be organizing such workshops for academic staff from time to time.
The Vice-Chancellor also urged the participants to pay keen attention to the training and assimilate “the emerging ideologies therein for your individual growth and that of FUDMA at large.”
Earlier, the Director of Academic Planning and Monitoring, Prof. Daud Mustafa, said the workshop, the first of its kind in the University, would serve as an opportunity to acquaint the newly converted academic staff with the fundamental ethical skills essential for effective teaching.
“Becoming an academic involves more than teaching in the classroom. You are expected to contribute meaningfully to innovative researches, community service, mentor-mentee relationship, students’ training and institutional development,” Prof. Mustafa said.
In a presentation titled “Ethics on Lesson Delivery in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions: Newly Recruited Academic Staff Orientation,” the Director of Research, Innovation and Development, Prof. Aminu Dalhat Kankia, said ethical lesson delivery is indispensable to credible and transformative tertiary education in Nigeria.
Prof. Kankia said fresh academics should combine knowledge, pedagogy and professional competence with integrity, fairness, respect, accountability and reflective practice, noting that lecturers “must recognize that their classroom conduct shapes students’ academic experiences, professional values and character, thereby influencing the quality of graduates produced.”
He explained that lesson delivery is the process by which a lecturer “organizes and facilitates learning, encompassing preparation; presentation of content; classroom interaction; questioning; discussion; use of instructional resources; students’ participation; Continuous Assessment; feedback and evaluation of learning.”
According to him, “Ethics refers to principles and standards that help individuals determine what is right, fair, responsible and morally acceptable in particular situations. In lesson delivery, ethics concern questions such as: What is the right way to treat students? How should academic power be exercised? What constitutes a fair assessment? How should intellectual students’ viewpoints be respected and implemented?”
In another presentation entitled “Mentor-Mentee Relationship in the Nigerian University System,” Prof. Hassan Ishaq Ibrahim of the Agricultural Economics Department said academic success requires research, teaching, publication, supervision, community service and academic leadership, emphasizing that “Mentorship can make the transition faster, easier and more successful.”
Prof. Ibrahim defined a mentor as “an experienced academic who guides; advises; coaches; shares experience; provides feedback; creates opportunities; and encourages professional growth,” while a mentee is “a developing academic who takes initiative; seeks to learn; accepts constructive criticism; implements advice; sets professional goals; and takes responsibility for personal development,” adding that mentoring succeeds when both parties are committed.
Also speaking on “Examination Invigilation in FUDMA: The Matters Arising,” Prof. Martins Iyoboyi of the Department of Economics and Development Studies asserted that examination invigilation is an important quality assurance apparatus in every institution of learning.
He said part of the responsibilities of invigilators is to ensure that the exercise is congruent with extant institutional regulations and that the integrity of the process is not compromised.
“Among other factors, effective invigilation is identified as a panacea to various forms of examination irregularities in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions and poor invigilation not only contributes to various forms of examination irregularities and malpractice, but also impairs academic integrity, thereby undermining the credibility of the institutions,” Prof. Iyoboyi noted.
In a discourse entitled “From Conversion to Academic Excellence: Building a Successful Career as a University Academic,” Dr. Sabitu Abubakar of the Economics and Development Studies Department said conversion is an important milestone but only the beginning.
“You were already University employees, but academic work has different expectations. Academics are not only expected to use existing knowledge. They are expected to teach, investigate, generate and disseminate knowledge,” Dr. Abubakar said.
He charged participants to imbibe personal commitments to strengthen their academic identity, including: I will learn; I will teach; I will research; I will publish; I will collaborate; I will uphold academic integrity; I will mentor others and I will contribute meaningfully to my University and society at large.
In a vote of thanks, the Deputy Director of Academic Planning and Monitoring, Dr. Segun Adeola, expressed appreciation to the University management for its commitment to the success of the workshop, thanked resource persons for their insightful presentations and willingness to share experiences with the new academic staff, and commended participants for their patience throughout the exercise.