A 400-level female student of Geoscience student of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Ikiliagwu Nonso, led other UNN students to sweep the top awards at the 2012 Geosciences Summer School which ended in oil city of Port Harcourt , Rivers State at the weekend. Udido Uyim (also of UNN) had earlier won the best prize for Geophysics while Ibe Chinedu of the same UNN topped everyone else in Geology.
Nonso’s male colleagues from the UNN, Uyim and Enwerem Innocent tied in the third position while a male student of the University of Port Harcourt , Agwuncha Frank Nwadozie, broke in between the UNN team by taking the second over all best position. Winners are usually given a set of Geophysics/Seismic interpretation books and tools.
The thin-looking Nonso, who desires to be a researcher all her life, told BusinessDay that the heat at the one week summer school was hotter because the academic summit was for the best brains and class toppers around eastern and south-south region. “We took lectures on various courses including exploration, geology and geophysics”.
The UNN, Uniport, Rivers State University of Science and Technology (UST), and the Federal University of Science and Technology (FUTO), and the University of Benin (UNIBEN) each contributed 10 entries while the Delta State University (DELSU) sent in six contenders. The best student said for them to declare her the best, it means they really illustrated well. “It is hard in the university but here, it was bigger because only the best came. Teaching here was the best. In school, you only did theory but here, we learnt in a unique and thrilling way with field examples of the real thing”, he stated.
If I get back, I would advise my course mates to drop reading to pass but reading to learn. It does not mean they should discard their books but that they should seek real knowledge. The running mate, Nnadozie, (400-level georlogy, Uniport), said Geology as a discipline was getting more exciting in the summer school, wider. “I advise the organizers to keep it up, include more universities”.
It is hard in the university but here, it was bigger because only the best came. Teaching here was the best. In school, you only did theory but here, we learnt in a unique and thrilling way with field examples of the real thing.
The coordinator of the scheme, Shell’s manager, Geosolutions, Gabriel Nedo Osayande, explained that only students with 4.0 to 5.0 (CPGA) were allowed entry into the summer school unlike in the past when 3.5 was allowed.
Osayande further explained that the difference between normal classroom teaching in the universities and the summer school was the introduction of real-life (field) situations treated in the summer school.
The coordinator stated that the summer school developed in 2004 from Shell’s Guest lecture Series for Nigerian universities and has today grown into a big academic session even pushing to grow bigger.
SOURCE: businessdayonline.com