ABU matriculates 7,537 postgraduate students for 2019/2020 session

The School of PostGraduate Studies (SPGS) of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria has admitted 7,537 postgraduate students out of 10,933 applications received for the 2019/2020 session.

Prof. Sani Abdullahi, Dean of the SPGS, disclosed this during the matriculation ceremony for the 2019/2020 academic session in Zaria on Wednesday.

He said out of the 7,537 admitted postgraduate students, only 5,360 students completed their registration formalities.

Abdullahi said the 5,360 students who completed their registration formalities consisted of 679 PhD students, 109 MPhil students, 3621 Masters Degree students and 951 Postgraduate Diploma students.

He added that the composition by gender showed a total of 3,869 males and 1,136 females students.

The dean, however, noted that the ceremony should have been held in the first quarter of 2020 but it had to be rescheduled due to the persisting COVID-19 pandemic.

He, therefore, cautioned the students to shun all forms of social vices such as cultism, indecent dressing, examination malpractice, sexual misbehaviour fraudulent acts and any antisocial behaviour that could mar their future.

In his remarks, Prof Kabiru Bala, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, congratulated the students on their admission into the university and implored them to honour the tenets of the matriculation oaths.

Bala said the series of events occasioned by COVID-19 disrupted many aspects of human endeavor.

“The academia was not spared, a reason for the late commencement of your academic studies and a disruption in the 2019/2020 academic calendar.

“This disruption with the attendant COVID-19 preventive measures has resulted in changes in the way of doing things thereby creating a new normal.

“I implore you all to avail yourselves of new developments by engaging and interacting with the university via numerous organs of the SPGS website, social media handles and call centre for your needs, enquiry and support,” the vice-chancellor said.