VERITAS UNIVERSITY GETS FULL ACCREDITATION IN ALL PROGRAMMES

AN ADDRESS BY THE VICE-CHANCELLOR, PROFESSOR DAVID I. KER,OON AT A PRESS BRIEFING HELD IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER ON

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2012

Gentlemen of the Press,

I am pleased to welcome you all to this press briefing. Veritas University, Abuja (VUNA), is the Catholic University of Nigeria. It was founded by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria through a resolution given at its March 2002 meeting in Abuja. The University was established in response to the felt need for a University that would provide high quality tertiary education according to the noble tradition of the Catholic Church.  Provisional licence for operation was granted by the National Universities Commission on May 7, 2007. The permanent site of the University is located in Bwari Local Government of Abuja. The University opened its gates to its first set of students in October 2008 at its take-off site in Obehie, Abia State. It will interest you to know that our first set of students have written their final examinations and completed all requirements for graduation.

NUC ACCREDITATION OF PROGRAMMES

From March 27-30, 2012 the National Universities Commission (NUC) paid a visit to the University for the Programme accreditation exercise. The University presented the following nine programmes: Accounting; Applied Microbiology; Economics; English and Literary Studies; History and International Relations; Industrial Chemistry; Marketing and Advertising; Political Science and Diplomacy; and Physics with Electronics. I am pleased to announce today that all were granted FULL accreditation.

Abia State government, our host has commended Veritas University for having the most disciplined set of students in the country and playing a major role in the human resources development of the nation. Since the focus in all Universities is on character and learning we are excited to get full marks in these key areas in our early years.

We operate a collegiate system. We have two colleges, the College of Natural and Applied Sciences (NAS), and the College of Management, Social Sciences, Arts and Theological Studies (MSAT), spread across these colleges are six Departments and nine degree programmes that have been fully accredited by the National Universities Commission.

AIM TO RANK AMONG TOP 10 IN NIGERIA

I wish to reiterate the determination of all in the Veritas University community to make the University rank among the top universities in Nigeria. Though there are more than 117 universities in Nigeria, we plan to place our University among the top 10.

The FULL accreditation of all programmes is the key to our aim of ranking top in the Country. The record is unprecedented as no University in Nigeria has ever got full accreditation in all its programmes at the first NUC visit.

Veritas University is a digital-based University in terms of administration, teaching and learning. All students have their laptops which are indispensible to their learning experience in the University. Every registered student has a Veritas University e-mail address and is connected to the library.

Our library gives students and staff access to the world’s biggest collections of biomedical and health literature, Agora Database which provides a collection of 1900 journals in all fields. We also have data base for Oxford reference online, business source complete, academic source complete, JSTOR, National Virtual Library among others

We have vibrant and internationally recognised academic staff and well experienced non teaching staff that are working hard to achieve the aim of ranking among top 10 in Nigeria.

MOVEMENT TO THE UNIVERSITY’S PARMANENT SITE IN ABUJA

The sod-turning and official foundation laying ceremony of the permanent site took place at the main campus in Bwari Area Council, FCT, Abuja on March 1, 2012. The colourful ceremony was performed by the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop  Ignatius Kaigama who was accompanied by the Chancellor of the University, Archbishop John Onaiyekan and the Pro-Chancellor, Archbishop Anthony Obinna in addition to nearly fifty Bishops.

We plan to relocate to Abuja in the 2013/14 academic session which will commence in October 2013. Work has continued steadily at the permanent site.

ADMISSION OF STUDENTS

In pursuance of the noble objective of the University, we are inviting eligible candidates to a Post-UTME screening exercise for admission into the 2012/2013 academic session on Friday, August 31, 2012. The screening will take place at Regina Pacis College, Garki Area 10, FCT, Abuja and the Take-Off Campus, Obehie, Abia State

Eligible candidates include those who made Veritas University  their first or second choice in the 2012 UTME Application form as well as all other candidates interested in studying at Veritas University who obtained a minimum of 180 score in the 2012 UTM Examination

We are calling on Nigerians to come and be part of the great academic achievements of the University.

Professor David I. Ker,OON

Vice-Chancellor