The Research and Development Unit of Bells University of Technology held a Symposium on Wednesday the 9th of June, 2021, titled ‘Driving Excellence In Academic Research: Exploring Credible Outlets’ at Edozien Lecture Theatre.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jeremiah Oludele Ojediran, RE (COREN) MNSE was the Chief Host at the event. While welcoming local and international participants and declaring the event open, the Vice-Chancellor emphasized the importance of quality and researched academic treatises properly published in credible sources and how such papers have positively impacted the university’s visibility and rankings. The Ag Director Research and Innovation Unit, Dr. Kayode Ogunsola, re-echoed the intentional drive of the university toward excellent academic research.
The event had three guest speakers; Professor Ojo Sunday Isaac Fayomi, Dr. Felicia Yusuf, Dr. Ngozi Arisa, with each speaking on different parts of Academic Research. The first guest speaker, Professor O.S.I Fayomi, a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, an avid researcher who has over 400 publications to his credit and is listed among the top 50 researchers in Africa.
In his speech, he delved into the importance of Academic Research. He stated that every field has sufficient related journals in any subject area, and 90% of poor outlets have had lousy indexing. Prof Fayomi explores that researchers go for poor outlets due to fear of rejection, pride, incompetence, and inferiority complex. He asserted that Scopus and Web of Science are the current leading indexing database, preferred by most Universities and believed to be the most reputable. He advised researchers not to publish to be promoted but to be self-productive as this will impact their ratings, boosts University ranking and visibility.
The second guest speaker, Dr. Felicia Yusuf, who is also the University Librarian, kicked off her speech with Driving Excellence in Academic Research: The Strategic Role of the University Library. She stated that research in higher institutions is essential and cannot be over-emphasized because it is one of the tripods upon which world-class universities are built. The library, she said, provides a platform for support of excellence in research. In the university ranking metrics, research is 30% input.
She went on to say that institutions around the world focus on libraries for quality research, institutional visibility, and academic reputation. She mentioned how Bells University library has taken up strategic roles to ensure that Scopus indexed journals were sent to various Colleges, Subscriptions to E-Resources, Intranet-based E-books, etc. She further noted that the expected outcome includes a robust research output with improved visibility for the University, attraction of rated researchers that will attract collaborations across the globe, and student enrolment improvement. She concluded by stating the need for the institution to be more intentional in the drive towards attaining excellence in research endeavours.
The third guest speaker, Dr. Ngozi U. Arisa, Director, Academic Planning, lectured on the Sub-theme: Driving Excellence in Academic Research: Meeting and Exceeding NUC Standards. She began by describing Academic Research as research carried out in an academic institution for the award of degree; BSc, MSc, Ph.D., under the guidance of a supervisor. Academic research could also be restrictive because the researcher has to work within rules and regulations and within stipulated time and conditions.
She went ahead to say that the way Research and Development activities are done currently in Nigerian Universities needs adequate improvement. The speaker mentioned that the first attempt of The National Universities Commission (NUC) to organize Nigerian University’s Research and Development fair was in 2004. However, NUC is still approving guidelines for research policy documents write up for Nigerian universities. She further stated that the last accreditation exercise in the Nigerian university system has ensured that universities produce their research document policies, and this research policy is expected to guide the conduct of the universities’ research activities through the implementation committee.
In attendance were the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jeremiah Ojediran RE (COREN) MNSE, the Registrar, Mr. Lamidi Tafa, Dean’s, and other Members of the University’s academic staff.
Dr. Felicia Yusuf, University Librarian 
Prof Sunday Fayomi, Department of Mechanical & Biomedical Engineering 
Dr. Ngozi Arisa, Director of Academic Planning 
Dr. Kayode Ogunsola, Director, Research & Development Unit 
Professor Jeremiah Ojediran, Vice Chancellor