TRIPLE MISSION OF THE FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, NIGERIA: A LENS ON DECADE OF STAFF CAPACITY BUILDING AND PRODUCTION OF GRADUATES

Abstract

Teaching, research and community engagement constitute the triple mission of a University. This paper interrogates academic units in the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Ibadan, Nigeria from 1998 to 2007 with a view to stimulating academia on achieving the goal of the University towards the production of graduates whose training in theory and practice will enable them to deal with the increasingly specialised problems of agricultural production and natural resources. The study was conducted to review and examine the status of academic staff; trends in production of graduates from 1998 to 2007; investigate capacity building and determine activity level of academic staff on board; and identify challenges facing the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. The results showed that academic staff disposition is grossly inadequate. There was an upward and downward trend in graduates’ production with a corresponding decline in the number of academic staff. Capacity building for human resources was inadequate. The activity level of academic staff showed that Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development was academically efficient with activity level of 1.0, followed by Departments of Agronomy, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, Animal Science and Crop Protection, and Environmental Biology with 0.76, 0.71, 0.65 and 0.63 activity levels respectively while the least activity level of 0.48 was obtained in the Departments of Forest Resources Management and Agricultural Economics. Funding, logistics, infrastructural facilities, laboratories, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and power supply were identified as challenges facing the Faculty. It is recommended that holistic developmental phases in short, medium and long terms should be charted for Triple Mission of the University so that the university does not simply end up creating new problems.