Last Updated on July 21, 2025 by Olasunkanmi Olajide
By Raymond Osemene
As part of efforts to enhance the quality and global relevance of its academic offerings, the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), in collaboration with Virginia State University (VSU), USA, held a high-level workshop on Curriculum Benchmarking today, July 18, 2025, at the Red Chamber.
The workshop was organised under the auspices of the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship, which currently hosts two distinguished scholars from VSU, Prof. Richard Omotoye and Prof. Laban Rutto at FUNAAB.
Declaring the event open, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Babatunde Kehinde, who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development), Prof. Olawale Dairo, noted that curriculum benchmarking was a critical pillar in enhancing academic standards, global competitiveness, and relevance in line with international best practices.
The Vice-Chancellor stressed that the benchmarking exercise aligned with FUNAAB’s commitment to continuous improvement and innovation in its curriculum delivery.
Earlier, the Director, Directorate of Research, Innovations and Partnerships (DRIP), Prof. Mutiu Busari, acknowledged the impactful presence of the VSU scholars on campus over the past two months. He commended their active engagement with the University’s academic community and emphasised the significance of the benchmarking exercise, particularly in relation to FUNAAB’s Tripodal Mandate.
Prof. Busari urged members of the University Community to give their full cooperation to the facilitators to ensure the success of the initiative.
Delivering the lead presentation titled “FUNAAB and VSU Program-to-Program Curriculum Benchmarking”, Prof. Richard Omotoye, Coordinator of Agricultural Business and Economics at VSU, provided a comprehensive comparative analysis of the Agricultural Economics and Farm Management (AE&FM) programme at FUNAAB and the Agricultural Business Economics (ABE) programme at VSU.
While FUNAAB emphasises theoretical knowledge complemented by a full year of practical training, VSU integrates hands-on experiences throughout its academic calendar.
The workshop was well attended by top University officials, including Prof. Bola Senjobi, Dean, College of Plant Science and Crop Production (COLPLANT); Prof. Mark Sogunle, Director, Academic Planning; Prof. Cornelius Alarima, Chairman, FUNAAB-VSU Curriculum Benchmarking Committee, among others.
