AMADEUS University Offers Transformational Functional Education For 21st century, says Onuoha, Registrar
By Judex OKORO
Amadeus University is located at an ancient town of Amizi in Ikwuano local government area of Abia state. AMADUES, meaning ‘Love of God,’ is one of the newly-approved private university. The National University Commission (NUC) granted the institution license on June 20, 2023 and is set to roll out its first batch of students soonest.
At the helm of administration is a veteran administrator, Mr. Ernest Onuoha, as the registrar of the university. He is the pioneer registrar and was part of the Project Team that midwifed AMADEUS and this is the fourth university he has worked as a registrar. He had worked in Abia State University (ABSU) for 10 years, Eastern Palm University owned by Rochas then now K. O. Mbadiwe University for 3 years.
In this exclusive interview with THE BEAGLE NEWS, Onuoha stated that “AMADEUS is offering transformational, functional and quality education to Nigerians of 21st century, an education which should be able to give you something for your head, provide your skills for your hands and not just give you knowledge.”
Excerpts:
Motivation behind setting up the University
I have listened to the proprietor/financier of this institution spoke at different fora about his motivation to embark on a project of this magnitude. This project wasn't actually to make money as much but to provide education that suits the demands of the 21st century, functional education that schools the mind and arms the man. The story is always the same out there where graduates come out with king size certificates but virtually no skills and that is why we have unemployment moving up in numbers but what we try to offer here is transformational functional education, that brand of education that looks at the three sides of man.
Remember that because every human being is made up of three domains including the cognitive, which has to do with the intellect, they affective which has to do with conduct and the psycho-moto which has to do with skills, how good you can use knowledge via your hands. There's been this deliberate emphasis on the cognitive, learning where you keep pounding and empowering the mind. Most universities do not bother about the affective, which is the conduct the personality of the person but we intend to do that too. It is not just stuffing the individual with knowledge, we also intend that a graduate of this Amadeus University will be disciplined, will be diligent, will be hardworking, and will be able to ask himself or herself some basic questions before he takes some actions. Such questions as is it right? Will it be fair to all concern? These are all ethical sides of man but many of us don't bother about that so long as it serves our purpose.
The other is the use of hands. Let me illustrate that with a comment by a man I didn't like, Vladimir Putin, the Russian President. While responding to a question why the continent of Africa is always into food crisis, he said why not they were educated by the white man who made English compulsory but made agriculture optional, they speak all the big grammar with an empty stomach and that is a practical example of education without skills. That is one of the reasons why the owners of AMADEUS decided to set up this institution. The structures are just there but what was is in the vision is that education offered to Nigerians of today is the 21st century education which should be able to give you something for your head. We are to provide your skills for your hands and not just give you knowledge.
Meaning of Amadeus
It has Greek origin. Two words were fused together- AMA (love), DEUS (God) meaning love of God (AMADEUS). Initially at the formative stage because I had the privilege of serving in the project implementation committee, the originally proposed name was Amazing International University, but at a point because of the influence of religion, the proprietor thought differently and said, why we don’t glorify God by looking for a name that will reference God.
Sourcing for students considering the location of the University
Oh no! There is no problem with sourcing for students. The decision of way to go and get education is primarily that of the students and the sponsors or the organisations sponsoring. What's more important is what quality of education you want to offer? Secondly, because of the level of poverty in the society, people will also bother about fees but many times when we bother about fees, we don't match it with quality or the standard of what you will get. If you look at the poverty level in the society, I can bet you we won't have an army of students but those of them who understand that value should be matched with cost of service and will not mind it.
We have targeted students using the heads of schools; we have also organised education stakeholders meeting first across the catchment area of Uyo, Yenogoa, Aba, Umuahia, Okigwe and Uturu. There we invited the heads of elite secondary schools, prospective students, sponsors and stakeholders in the education sector to have a one-on-one interaction with them and have a feel of what the institution look like. We have been in the media for the past two-and-half months and we intend to be in the media until you admission processes ends. The final decision lies on the students and their sponsors.
NUC approval and programmes accredited so far
The federal executive Council approved the Amadeus University and authorised the NUC to give us license to perfect that approval. We got that license on June 20, 2023 but there was a letter which is an accompanying instrument to the license which mentioned conditions that must be met before you give effect to the license and take off. So, one of it was to give you a mentor institution and ours is Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK). Thereafter, you hire the principal officers who will run this system before you say okay teachers and students come in. That is how we were hired before the final resource verification which was done on March 16, 2024. But before then candidates had written exams including Jamb. Of course and that was a major challenge on our part.
However, NUC came to re-evaluate those things that we have in place and then after the resource verification, they approved 19 programs that we presented as none of our programs failed. These 19 programs run across 13 departments in four faculties. We have faculty of science and computing, faculty of social and management science, engineering and then allied health sciences. Under allied health sciences, we have nursing sciences, public health, medical lab science and physiotherapy.
In our engineering faculty, we have just two programs, computer engineering and electrical electronics; then in the social and management sciences faculty, we also have two loose clusters there, in social sciences we have mass communication and economics, under the management arm we have accounting, business administration and entrepreneurship. Under the science and computing faculty, we have computer science as a department and also computer science as a program, we also have the information technology program, cyber security, data sciences, forensic science and software engineering. Then finally in the department of biological sciences made up of microbiology as a program biotechnology as a program too
Affordability to prospective students considering the resources and structures in place
Yes and no! How much can somebody pay before you can regard it as affordable? Affordability is relative because even the middle class that some years back could afford to give their children good education can no longer do so, do you know that there's no longer middle class. It has been worked off by policies of the oppressors you are either up there or you’re lying down flat on the ground. Do you know what worries me I no longer go for what I want to eat I go for what I can afford, you know by my position as a registrar the registration should be of the upper class, but it is no longer easy to say I will take this and not this because you have encumbrances, you have dependents; you have relations and you have many things that is the problem. Look at a motor park tout. A motor parked tout can comfortably afford a good meal these days that I cannot do and you know why because they live on other people's sweat. So, let's leave the issue of affordability for it is relative depending on the circumstance somebody at the top can afford somebody on the ground can afford.
Views on private universities benefiting from TETFUND
No! It is not possible. It is against the law of nature. Anything private is away from public funds, anything private is personal and exclusive from public funds. If anyone factors private universities to benefit from TETFUND I'll be part of the opposition. But do you know what we should actually ask for? It is the training of manpower, sponsorship to conferences and those other things that pertain to individuals but not to intervene and build skyscrapers, build buildings and provide lab equipment because those facilities belongs to the owner of the university. If you send professor to Cambridge to do some research work and all that, he is not going to drop it at Amadeus when he is going, at the end of the day the individual skills we obtained from this conferences and workshops will go with us that is the only aspect of it I will support.
We had a one week TETFUND workshop in Enugu. When we got to Enugu, some people, who felt strongly about private universities benefiting strongly from TETFUND fund, could not succeed because they argument did not hold water. Government did not send you to go and open a private university. All they can do is to regulate what is happening there. You see one of the major problems we have in this country is that ideas are always generated but the policy makers of the day will kill it.
Relationship between the University and the Host community
Our relationship is very cordial and host communities are benefiting in the area of employment (look at the non-teaching staff), scholarship scheme that is coming for those who wrote JAMB and passed, offering loan schemes to some of the community members and take over the secondary school here single-handedly. So we have no problem with the host communities. Indeed, the host communities have been very friendly and they are very supportive too.
