By Our Correspondent
Laagos, April 7, ’25 (TNZ) Authorities of the University of Lagos have approved upgrading the Department of Mass Communication to a full-fledged Faculty, effective from this October.
TheNewsZenith reports that the new faculty will take off with three departments and five programmes.
The Head of Department, Prof. Sunday Oloruntola, who confirmed the new development to our Correspondent, said the upgrade followed a directive from the National Universities Commission (NUC) to unbundle the Mass Communication programme.
“During my introduction of Prof. Raph Akinfeleye, I mentioned that he envisioned this a long time ago, that that is the best practices all over the world that the is a school.
“So, Prof. Akinfeleye started the process of upgrading the department into a faculty before he retired.
“Before you can become a faculty, you have to prepare the ground work. You need to send papers to the faculty where you are now.
“They will go through it, and they will approve that you should go.
“But in case of our own, even though we have been doing everything to make sure that we become a faculty, I think, it came into effect because of the NUC’s mandate given to the University.
“There are some courses they (NUC) unbundled. So, Mass communication is one of them. So, the directive to upgrade our department to a faculty came from the NUC.
“The exact name is the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies,’’ the HOD said.
In a letter dated Feb. 25 and independently obtained by TheNewsZenith, the University Registrar notified the Faculty of Social Science, which currently houses the Mass Communication Department, about the implementation of the new “Faculty of Communication and Media Studies”.
“The Vice Chancellor has approved the commencement of the New Faculty of Communication. The faculty consists of three departments and five programmes.
“It is necessary to earmark with proper branding, the physical office accommodation and conveniences of the officers of the new faculty,’’ TheNewsZenith quotes the letter as reading in part.
Via the letter, the VC also requested the Faculty of Social Sciences “to oversee the transition period of the new faculty until the election of a Dean for the new Faculty of Communication and Media Studies’’.
In the implication of the department becoming a faculty, the HOD said it means enlargement.
“It means you can now employ more lecturers; it also means you can now take in more students.
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“We are just starting, but as time goes on, we have also to look at the constraint of manpower because we will need more manpower more and more students.
“When we start the implementation of the faculty in October, we are going to have three departments.
“Department of Mass Communication which will house B.Sc. Mass Communication because those who are there now will have to graduate, because NUC has not changed the names.
“ So, the department will house BSc Mass Communication, MSc Mass Communication and PhD Mass Communication.
“Then we have the Public Relations and Advertising Department with BSc Public Relations and BSc Advertising.
“We also have the Department of Journalism and Broadcasting and Media Studies with BSc. Journalism and BSc Broadcasting.
`So, we are talking about five programmes at undergraduate level with three departments.
On the role played by the UNILAG Mass Communication Alumni Association (UMCAA), Oloruntola said the association has been trying for the department.
“We will continue to thank them and also ask for more. They are trying to give us a new banner depicting the new name of the faculty.
“ A member of the 1984 set of UMCAA is also donating a workstation to serve as the PRAD Laboratory for the department.’’
TheNewsZenith also reports that the association has undertaken the repairs of all toilet facilities in the department.
In terms of facilities on the grand to enable the faculty to take off successfully, the HOD listed essential facilities like the Radio station, TV station and Photo Lab for practicals. (TNZ)
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