The Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, has awarded research grants to 37 students to carry out developmental projects. The beneficiaries, selected from all the six colleges of the university, were awarded the sum of N1.8million based on the nature and quality of their proposals at the third Undergraduate Research Day (URD) held recently at the university.
In his opening address, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, remarked that KWASU has recorded unprecedented achievements in the annals of the Nigerian educational system by cultivating a rich learning culture wherein students are enriched with life-long problem-solving skills.
Professor Na’Allah said the idea of Undergraduate Research was borne out of the need to “build mentor/mentee relationships amongst students and lecturers, so that the students may gain the ability to identify the diversities and challenges of today’s society, through the employment of research designs to confront and proffer meaningful, long lasting solutions to the challenges posed by life.”
According to him: “Our goal is to ensure that KWASU researchers, students and staff, collaborate with government and industries to implement their research findings, and soon, we will begin to see results of such collaborations in problems being solved, new products being made and diseases being overcome with medicinal products and health protection and treatment strategies.”
Also speaking, the Coordinator, Centre for Undergraduate Research, Dr Grace Abolaji, said KWASU is committed to empowering the younger generation by expanding the scope of its Undergraduate Research Programme and extending it to other tertiary institutions in the country.
According to her, “The Undergraduate Research Programme has empowered 66 student-researchers with about N4 million in the previous two editions as an innovative, impacting and competitive programme geared towards preparing the students for enviable feats.”
In his goodwill message, the Emir of Shonga, Dr Haliru Yahaya, commended KWASU for taking the lead in undergraduate research.
and other innovative programmes geared towards community development, saying the institution is consistently aligning itself with the 21st century thinking.
Beneficiaries of the second undergraduate research grants presented their research findings on the ‘Production of Security and Control Device System Using SMS Control Unit,’ ‘Improved Charcoal Stove and Oven with Blower,’ ‘Design and Development of Nitrate-Based Propulsion System,’ ‘Design and Development of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV),’ and ‘Production of Mupap 3-in-1 Pap,’ at the event themed, ‘Problem Solving by Research.’