DEAN’S STATEMENT
 

The current Dean of the Faculty of Education is Professor Joshua Emeka Umeifekwem, a Professor of Physical Education, Sports Psychology, and Exercise Physiology, and a member of the University Governing Council. As the Dean, his vision is to pursue positive mentoring for the development of academic staff, especially upcoming and budding researchers, as well as making informed decisions and taking necessary actions to promote motivation and job satisfaction among staff; to promote exceptional quality representation that engages and relies on strong feedback mechanisms from all staff; to provide accessible, accountable, and democratic leadership that will inform greater academic and administrative productivity in the university; to address and redress challenges which abound in the faculty, while harnessing the identified potential in his staff; and to attract the closer attention of the university central administration to the faculty especially in physical infrastructural and staff development. The Departments under the Faculty of Education are Adult Education, Arts Education, Educational Foundations, Human Kinetics and Health Education, Library and Information Science, Science Education, and Social Science Education, with their various Heads of Department who draw their strength from the Departmental Board. The Faculty of Education is very large, with about 350 academic staff and a present total undergraduate student enrolment of about 3,500. The Faculty has robust undergraduate and postgraduate programmes domiciled in all the departments. The University of Nigeria Decree 1978 No. 1; Article 8 (see University calendar) specified the functions of the Dean of a Faculty. The Dean strictly adheres to the tenets of this article. For instance, as the Chairman of the Faculty Board, the Dean does not only call for meetings regularly but also implements the decisions of the Board. The Dean also exercises general supervision over the academic and administrative affairs of the faculty and also follows Senate approved regulations in the discharge of his duties. 

The Dean also makes out time to feel the pulse of the students’ body to ensure that they are carried along in policy decisions and implementation. The Education Students’ Association (ESA) current Staff Adviser is Dr. Ferdinand Agu, of the Human Kinetics and Health Education Department. He has a good rapport with the student body. The Dean also operates with the Associate Dean, Dr Kenneth C. Obetta and through committees (apart from being a member of the University Governing Board) like Examination, Curriculum, Admission, Consultancy, Time Table, Post Graduate, Professional and Career Advancement, etc. Other committees like Welfare, Environment, Faculty of Education Web and Conference/Seminar are put into proper perspective for the smooth running of the Faculty. The operations of the committees have started yielding dividends. For instance, there has been training for post-graduate supervisors and a training-the-trainers seminar to reposition teaching practice supervision in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Committee on Conference/Seminar has successfully hosted a widely attended national conference with over 200 participants. The Faculty is also enjoying unalloyed support from the Vice Chancellor, Professor Charles Igwe.