(Professor Adebiyi Daramola, Vice Chancellor FUTA and Professor James Gardner ,the Pro Vice-Chancellor for international, DMU, during the signing of the MoU on collaboration between both institutions)
To further strengthen the internationalization drive and placement of the Federal University of Technology, Akure in the global arena, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebiyi Daramola has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to kick start collaboration with De Montfort University, (DMU) Leicester, United Kingdom. The Pro Vice-Chancellor for international, DMU, James Gardner, signed for his institution. The MoU will allow FUTA and DMU to collaborate on academic and other related matters. Under the terms of the agreements FUTA staff and students will have opportunities to undertake knowledge sharing and skill development that will engender creativity ,connections, cultural integration, leadership traits and team work.
The benefiting departments in FUTA are Architecture and Industrial Design. The MoU gives students possibility of transferring from third year of undergraduate programme to complete studies at DMU. There are also provisions for six months Industrial Training, 10 days short workshops/courses in summer, winter or Easter break to cover design and theory in Architecture, with a field trip to a continental European city. Staff members have opportunity of undergoing PhD in full time ,split size 6 months and by distance learning, co-hosting conference on Tropical Architecture, Adjunct lecturing via Skype and visiting fellowships .The c ollaboration, an initiative of Dr. (Mrs.) Dorcas Ayeni, an alumnae of DMU School of Architecture who is a lecturer in FUTA’s Department of Architecture had inputs from the Head, School of Architecture, DMU, Professor Raymond Quek, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Adebiyi Daramola and the Director of the International Office, FUTA, Professor Afolabi Akindahunsi. FUTA is already collaborating with a number of leading Universities from across the world including the Fort Valley University, Georgia, USA where the first set of FUTA students are expected for their one year complementary studies in August 2015 and the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, USA where the second set of FUTA students are already undergoing their one year complimentary studies.
