TOPIC: AN IVORY TOWER IN THE MAKING; HURDLES THAT MUST
BE CROSSED
INTRODUCTION
“IVORY TOWER” this is metaphorically used to refer to the modern day
colleges and universities.
An ivory tower is an atmosphere where people are happily cut off from the rest
of the world in favour of their own pursuit usually mentally and esoteric ones.
(Wikipedia). It is most often connected to the career and lifestyle of academics
in university and college system.
According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, it is a secluded place that affords the
means of treating practical issues with an impractical often escapist attitude.
The Federal University Oye Ekiti is metaphorically an “Ivory Tower”. This
University was established in 2011 by the former President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan. The institution since its inception in 2011 has achieved rapid
development as it was declared the fastest growing Federal University by the
National Universities Commission in April 2021. Some of the notable
achievements of this institution includes:
 The institution has been able to run twin campuses at the same time
 Establishment of a Part- time and a sandwich programme to generate
revenue.
 Migration from OAU’s ICT services to our own independent FUOYE
portal system
 A well-equipped and functional studio for Mass Communication
department and so on.
However, transformation as it is often said is a process, in relation to the
popular saying: “Rome was not built in a day”. It is a verifiable fact that this
institution regardless of its achievement still has a long way to go. This is
because the institution despite its juvenile years with notable achievements and
its current rank as the 25th in the country, needs to put a considerable number of
things in place to ensure a more viable and efficient place of study and even
development.
Hence, the topic: An ivory tower in the making; in building this institution as an
ivory tower, some challenges are being faced, hurdles that must be crossed
indicates the focus on identifying and providing solutions to the various
problems affecting this institution like;
 improving student’s welfare; which encapsulates the various problems
that needs to be addressed as students are still agitating for better living
conditions on campus.
 increasing its rank by conducting more research,

hiring more professionals.
If all of these challenges are surmounted and adequately put in place, it
would allow for FUOYE’s development and advancement.
Firstly, in improving student’s welfare, one of the issues facing FUOYE
and many other federal universities is facing inadequate funding hence,
insufficient infrastructural facilities. This institution is facing inadequate
infrastructural facilities. This institution does not have adequate lecture rooms
and halls for learning. For example, a general course taken by the whole faculty
of over 1500 students trying to fit in a 700 capacity lecture room is a nightmare
in effective and conducive learning. Most students do not have a place to sit,
therefore learning in an overcrowded classroom which leads to lack of
enthusiasm to attend lectures, distractions and noise, failed mutual relationship
and understanding between students and lecturer.
In order to curb this menace and move the university higher, adequate lectures
rooms wide enough to contain the growing population of students needs to be
ensured and adequately made available for use as it fosters a conducive and
seamless learning environment, which gives room for understanding and improve
student’s experience.
Similarly, this university lacks sufficient basic amenities that aid teaching
like projectors, public address systems (PAS), white boards, markers,
microphones, etc. Needless to say, a lot of inconveniences occurs due to the
absence of these amenities. The modern day educational system has enjoyed lots
of technological advancements, however this institution still dwells in the past
methods of teaching. The human brain is programmed to remember pictures,
diagrams and illustrations for a long duration far better than speeches: whiteboard
for illustrations and projectors that would aid and ease teaching.
In view of this, the technological gadgets and teaching aids should be made
available and properly maintained in various lecture rooms and halls.
Also, issue of insufficient medical and health facilities and experienced staff.
Most health centres in federal institution are poor and under developed. This
institution does not have well equipped and spacious medical rooms. In some
cases, the university is unable to manage emergency situations due to this issue.
Health is wealth as it is often said. This institution has just minimal bed spaces
available for use which is not enough to cater for the welfare of the students.
Some of the health care workers see the “almighty paracetamol” as the key to all
illness which is a very bad attitude. For instance, the University of Ibadan (UI)
was able to gain momentum due to its outstanding health institution as it is being
rated one of the best in West Africa.
Advancement in health infrastructure would surely fast track the growth of this
institution through more research and provision of functional emergency buses
and first aid including well trained staff and equipment should be made available.
This also fosters peace and unity within school environment as it prevents riots,
protests, or breakdown of law and order in the university which may affect its
programs.
Moreover, hectic lecture schedules, is another burning issue worthy of
mention. FUOYE lacks the appropriate scheduling due to its authoritative stance.
Lectures are held for hours without a break or opportunity to rest or cool down.
For example, a student may have lectures for 6 hours straight without any form
of break this leads to inability to perform well during tests and examinations as
the brain does not do well under stress as assimilation and understanding is not
ascertained.
Adequate and proper scheduling as well as breaks within hours of lectures should
be ensured.
In addition, inadequate ventilation. Most lecture theatres and rooms lack adequate
ventilation and functioning fans, air conditions to ease up heat and congestion.
Even the lecturers are tensed when there is too much heat to handle which does
not give room for sound and qualitative teachings.
Adequate measures should be put in place to solve this problem by ensuring that
appropriate room for ventilation is made available and fans and air conditioners
made available and maintained.
Also, transportation issue is another problem the institution is facing. Both the
students and the lecturers daily battle with the issue of bad roads and
insufficient buses to aid movement. As a result of this, they find it difficult to
arrive early and this affect its output.
The school needs to work in conjunction with the state government to find
solution to it.
Similarly, housing issue is another obstacle to overcome. The university has just
one hostel to accommodate each gender. Higher rates of money are charged for
this reason. The school hostel goes for about 55000 with over 5 students in a
room. This makes getting a hostel outside the school at a cheaper rate almost
impossible and overbearing. Parents have to pay huge amount of money to secure
accommodation alone asides from school fees and feeding issues. This makes it
difficult to provide the essentials for their wards due to the huge amount of money
charged for housing alone.
The issue of housing can be solved by bringing a reduction in the amount paid
for hostel fees so as to make the general price for houses and hostels become
affordable and accessible.
In addition, problem of poor network and school Wi-Fi. Students and
lecturers find it difficult to cope with the issue of poor network to aid research.
The students are unable to make more findings and research on the topic of
assignment or further research on what they are being taught in class. Even
school Wi-Fi have been unable to function properly due to this issue.
Furthermore, the issue of 'ivory tower' research which is an epitheth used to
refer to the concerns disconnected from everyday life. Many universities focus
publishing scholarly and incomprehensible articles that would be read by a
selected few. How do we accelerate the learnings from academic research and
demonstrate their usefulness in the real world ?.
To solve this issue, assessments should not be ony based on individual or test or
assignments but also on how we can relate as a group to handle tasks and issues.
Similarly, in developing this institution and improve its status quo, there needs to
be more focus on research. These kinds of research should be able to benefit both
the school as well as the community at large.
Innovative research just as it in the motto of the school should be embarked
upon. The institution needs to improve in new knowledge creation. Through
improvement in research, students are made to understand the concepts as this
improves their analytical skills and creativity which coverts them as innovators.
Thus, leading to the increase in the productivity of the institution.
Finally, this institution needs to hire more lecturers in the field of teaching.
Employing high skilled professionals would help to increase the ranking of this
institution and also its credibility. The rankings look at what they have
accomplished, how many doctorate degrees they have and the amount and
quality of their published works.
In conclusion, in order to move this institution forward and increase the
rank of the institution all these issues must be addressed for the institution to
be in a better place in years to come .
The government should allocate more funds to the universities so they can be
efficient in their day-to-day operations. The institution on their own part
should establish and equip a unit in the institution for the purpose of
generating funds internally and solve issue of insufficient funds for effective
execution of projects and drive the school forward in years to come.
References
‘Ivory tower ’Merriam- Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam Webster,
https://www.merriam-webster/dictionary
Shapin, Steven (2012). The Ivory Tower: the history of a figure of speech and
its cultural uses (PDF)
All you need to know about FUOYE (Federal University OyeEkiti)”.9jajointlearn.2020-01-03
Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE)- About Us.www.fuoye.edu.ng
Guardian.ng/features/fuoye-grappling-with-challenges-of-infrastructure-funding
International Journal of Scientific Research and Modern Education Volume I,
Issue I ,(2016) - Increasing research productivity in higher institution.