He said the 26 first class graduates were among the 982 students that had finished from the institution in five sessions between 2014 and 2022.
The don stated this on Monday on the campus while speaking with journalists on the activities lined up for the joint first convocation of the university.
Ologunorisa said, “The highlight of the convocation is the award of university first degrees to 982 graduands from five sets – 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 session.
“The breakdown shows that a total of 26 graduates made first class, 307 made second class (upper division), 488 in second class (lower division) and 161 in third class.”
Speaking on the number of first class graduates, the don explained that the school had a culture of standard, quality and hard work and everyone of their students worked hard to earn thier marks.
He added that many of their graduates were performing excellently across the globe.
“The university is noted for a very high academic standard. Some of these graduands are already Ph.D holders from leading universities in the United States, U.K, Germany, South Africa and Nigeria.
“One of our recent first class graduates in chemistry, Miss Dimehin Adebisi, was admitted for Ph.D in chemical engineering at the University of Cincinnati, USA without passing through a Master’s degree programme.”
The vice chancellor also noted that in spite of various challenges facing the institution, the university was still thriving and making efforts to transition the varsity from teaching university to research university as it had signed Memoranda of Understanding with many universities across the world.
Ologunorisa, who commended the state Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, for lifting up the school from moribund level, said the school was enjoying the support from the state government and the well-meaning Nigerians.
“In the next academic session, 2023/2024, the School of Basic Medical Sciences will take off. The school will run courses in BSc. Nursing and BSc. Public Health. Also the BSc. Applied Geology programmes will also commence in the 2023/2024 academic session in the School of Earth Science.
“It should be mentioned that the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission is building a new school – School of Maritime Transport and Logistics at Ugbo Nla, in Ondo State Southern senatorial district. The maritime academy will train the critical skilled manpower necessary to drive maritime industry and ultimately the blue economy of the state.”
