By Garba M. Muhammad
The first batch of 300 Level Engineering Students of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, who were sent to China under the “3+2 program” have successfully completed their studies with excellent results, with Umar Faruk emerging as overall best graduand, who graduated with First Class in both Central South University, China and ABU.
The 45 ABU students and 13 academic staff all from the Faculty of Engineering were flown to China for the joint Bachelor’s degree program in engineering at Central South University (CSU), Changsha in September 2018.
One of the graduands, Yahuza Faisal, said,
“We did our project defense on 3rd June. The two departments Transportation Equipment and Control Engineering together with Traffic and Transportation Engineering
“While the Civil Engineering did their defense on 31st May. But there was online defense because of the corona outbreak. The two departments did Oral defense in front of Four professors per group.
“Their ways of grading were different from our Nigerian system but almost all the students fall within the range of excellent and good.
“It was a wonderful one both academically and other life experiences. We really learned a lot within a period of two years. And Insha Allah very soon we’re coming back to Nigeria.
“Right now we’re waiting for our certificate to be ready very soon is just the project grade need to be included.”
For Jibril Ismail, the whole experience was a life-changing one. “It was a life-changing experience studying abroad, as one will be exposed to a lot of things. We, the first set just finished our project defense on Wednesday, 3rd June. The general performance is excellent” He said
Of the 45 ABU Engineering students, 30 were sponsored by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and the other 15 are by CSU. They specialized in civil engineering, traffic, and transportation engineering as well as railway equipment and control engineering.
Thirty (30) of the students are from the civil engineering department while fifteen (15) are from mechanical engineering. The 30 from civil are split into two, 15 continue with civil while the other 15 studied traffic and transportation engineering. The 15 from mechanical engineering studied traffic and transportation engineering.
According to the former Vice-Chancellor of ABU, Professor Ibrahim Garba who Initiated the program, “we are very happy to have realized that the first batch that we sent have not disappointed us, they have actually made us very proud by performing very well, living very well, respecting the traditions and situations in China.
“And by so doing, Chinese are appreciating and respecting Nigerians at least for the first time, yes, because our brothers and sisters that have found their way to China in many respects ended upbringing shame to Nigeria,” he said.
It would be recalled that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Ahmadu Bello University and Central South University (CSU), Changsha, China to pave way for ABU’s 300-Level engineering students with higher CGPA after a selection interview to go to CSU to complete the remaining two years in order to earn the engineering degree.
The program is to last for a period of five consecutive years and the essence is to produce sufficient indigenous engineers who will continue to build and sustain railway infrastructure in Nigeria and beyond
The program all started in 2017 when ABU was picked out of seven Nigerian universities to begin as a pilot project a 3+2 joint degree program with China Central South University (CSU), Changsha, where China’s railway technology was first invented