The Rivers State University (RSU), Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt held its 38th Matriculation Ceremony at the Convocation Arena on Wednesday with a total of 7,840 students officially admitted into ten Faculties of the university.
The figures announced at the ceremony by the Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Opuene B. Owei showed that the Faculty of Science led the pack with a total of 1,525 students and was followed by Engineering Faculty with 1,489 matriculants.
Others are: Faculty of Management Sciences, 1,288; Education, 759; Humanities, 701; Social Sciences, 691 and Law, 565.
Faculties of Agriculture, Environmental Sciences and Basic Medical Sciences admitted and matriculated 315, 304 and 203 students respectively.
The Acting Vice Chancellor told the newly admitted students that the essence of the ceremony is to formerly welcome and adopt them as bonafide members of the University community.
She stated that the university community is akin to what obtains in the larger society where membership comes with rights and privileges as well as responsibilities.
Outlining what may pass as a template for academic excellence, the Acting VC said it begins with mandatory75% class attendance for students who are also expected to stay away from anti-social behaviors like cultism, examination malpractice, fighting and other disorderly conducts.
Professor Owei revealed that the race for First Class honors begins now, tasking them to target Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.50 and above to achieve the feat.
“The University has also made provision for relaxation, sports and religious activities. You should avail yourselves of such activities and refuse to be dragged or manipulated into joining clandestine or nocturnal groups”, she said, adding that any student found to belong to secret cult or engage in examination malpractice would be expelled.
Owei urged them to always access the Departments, Faculties and Central libraries for further studies, adding that the University’s E-library is functioning well for students to access the very rich holdings of journals and books.
“We have made every effort to provide a conducive learning environment for you. The university has recently increased its academic and non-academic staff to meet the needs of students”, she further disclosed.
Highlight of the colourful ceremony was procession of the students who marched according to their respective faculties with beautiful rendition of parade songs by the Nigeria Police band.
However, many of the matriculants attended the occasion with mixed feeling of excitement and sadness as they could not enjoy the privilege of adorning matriculation gowns.
Those who spoke with National Network lamented they were denied matriculation gowns because they could not present receipts of payment of school fees.
“Despite the stress in the university, I was able to pay all the fees required for clearance and just remaining the school fees. I had the money to pay and so are many of my colleagues, but we could not be attended to because of the huge crowd.
“I’m surprised that the management could be so rigid as to deny us of matriculation gown which is very symbolic and would speak volume in the photographs we take with our friends and families”, lamented a matriculant who said she got admitted into the Faculty of Science.
