A total of 286 students of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), have graduated with first-class honours out of 2,194 students at the institution’s 14th convocation ceremony.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Smaranda Olarinde, disclosed this in her welcome address on Wednesday, saying the graduating class comprised 1,759 undergraduates and 435 postgraduate students.
Olarinde said the university was ranked first in Nigeria for the fifth consecutive year, second in Africa, and 72nd globally in the 2026 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, with a score of 90.8 per cent.
She said the ranking made ABUAD the only Nigerian university among the world’s top 100 institutions in the rankings.
“Academically, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria increased ABUAD’s Medicine and Surgery quota from 200 to 250 and approved 25 slots for Dentistry.
“The university also secured full accreditation for Sociology, Human Nutrition and Dietetics (93.6 per cent), Computer Science and Geology, as well as favourable accreditation for postgraduate Accounting and Business Administration,” she said.
The vice-chancellor said the university had strengthened its international collaborations through partnerships with institutions and organisations in China and the United Kingdom.
She disclosed that, under a Memorandum of Understanding with Zhejiang Polytechnic University, China, 37 engineering students and two professors participated in three weeks of intensive training in Intelligent Manufacturing and Control Technology.
Another group of students undertook a 28-day study programme in Changchun, China, while a partnership with King’s College London secured four places for ABUAD students at its 2026 Summer School.
Olarinde added that other collaborations included the establishment of a Digital Twin Laboratory with Shenzhen University and a six-month industrial training programme for 20 Aeronautical Engineering students with United Nigeria Airline.
On research, she said the university deployed a High-Performance Computing facility in November 2025 to support genomic and artificial intelligence research.
She added that ABUAD had implemented Turnitin for all academic staff, while eight of its academics were listed among the world’s top 2% of scientists by Stanford-Elsevier.
The vice-chancellor announced Chukwurah Richard of the Department of Computer Engineering as the overall best graduating student for the 2025/2026 academic session.
“Richard recorded a perfect Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 5.00 and received a ₦10 million cash prize donated for the second consecutive year by agribusiness entrepreneur and ABUAD alumnus, Olasunkanmi Owoyemi,” she said.
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In his remarks, Gov. Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti paid tribute to the university’s founder, Aare Afe Babalola, for his commitment to human development and contributions to society.
Oyebanji commended the institution for maintaining high academic standards and securing the top position among Nigerian universities in the Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Rankings.
He also acknowledged Babalola’s support for the Ekiti State Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport, including funding for control tower equipment and a 100-car parking facility.
The governor urged the graduands to remain creative, adaptable and pragmatic, emphasising the importance of continuous learning and skills acquisition in an artificial intelligence-driven world.
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