A Doctoral Student in the Comparative and International Development Education program at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, United States of America (USA), Mr. Obafemi Ogunleye has visited the Center of Excellence in Agricultural Development and Sustainable Environment (CEADESE), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), as part of his fieldwork, to conduct interviews with key stakeholders, observing the facilities, sitting-in on classes, and reviewing relevant documents related to CEADESE. Mr. Ogunleye was accompanied by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Felix Kolawole Salako and the Director, CEADESE, Professor Olukayode Akinyemi.
His experience in FUNAAB would be used to compare the work of other Centers and Universities in Nigeria in order to provide recommendations on how such Centers of Excellence initiatives might be improved upon.
Mr. Ogunleye, a native of Ekiti State in Nigeria was born and raised in Houston, Texas and earned both his Bachelors and Masters Degrees from the University of Texas – San Antonio.
His research broadly explores the development of African higher education institutions with a focus on how they can become more locally relevant and globally competitive. For his dissertation, he is conducting a comparative case study of the World Bank’s Africa Center of Excellence Project in Nigeria. The research is expected to be completed by the end of December 2021.
He commended FUNAAB for making good use of its existing facilities as a shared resource among the University community members, hoping to partner with the University in the near future.
