The fifteenth convocation ceremony of Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) for the award of degrees and diplomas which held on Saturday, 1st December, witnessed the graduation of her pioneer set of first degree graduands. 25 of them were awarded a B.Sc. degree in Business Administration, 19 a B.Sc. in Accounting and 25 a B.Sc. in Mass Communication. The event took place in the Honeywell Group Auditorium in the University’s Lekki Campus.
The event began with a welcome address by the Pro-Chancellor of PAU, Mr Pascal G. Dozie C.O.N. who welcomed the graduands, their guests, members of the University community and other invited dignitaries. In his speech, he remarked on the necessity of an appropriate level of investment in universities in order to ensure the desired outcome of high quality education. He noted, among other things, that in Pan-Atlantic University … “the physical infrastructure & ambience plays a critical role in student performance”.
The guest speaker, Prof. Pat Utomi, one of the very early faculty members of and members of the management team of the Lagos Business School, presented a speech titled “Does Education Matter?” Citing the works of a number of authorities on the subject such as the late Peter Drucker, Nobel laureate Angus Deaton and the Brazilian Educator Paulo Freire, he demonstrated how high quality tertiary education and research had been the most important issue underpinning the huge difference in growth between the West and Africa over the course of the last two centuries with a marked divergence in the standard of living across the 20th Century. He concluded by saying “I trust you will go out there as values-driven leaders confident that the world is your oyster and you can shape it. … So go out there, make impact and seek immortality”.
In between the two speakers, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof Juan Manuel Elegido took time to highlight some of the main events and developments during the last academic session. These included, the visit to the University by Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, the Prelate of Opus Dei, the ranking for the first time of the Lagos Business School in the Executive MBA Ranking by the Economist where it ranked as the best in Africa and 48th globally, the achievement by the University’s accounting department of the higher of the two accreditations awarded by ICAN; this means that on graduation, students need only write 5 papers to earn the ICAN charter and the accreditation by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) of the B.Sc. programme of the School of Media and Communication.
The convocation also witnessed the award of 4 postgraduate diplomas, 117 MBAs, 48 M.Sc. degrees in media and communication, 1 MPhil in management and 3 PhDs including the first PhD from the School of Media and Communication.