University of Ibadan

Founded in 1932, the University of Ibadan (UI) was the first university to be established in Nigeria. Originally an affiliated College of the University of London, it was granted full independent status in 1962.

The university offers a broad range of academic programmes across its 16 faculties that include: arts, science, basic medical sciences, clinical sciences, agriculture, social sciences, education, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, technology, law, public health, dentistry, economics, renewable natural resources, and environmental design and management.

UI’s Postgraduate School is the largest in Africa, with its undergraduate and postgraduate student population split 50/50. Around a third of all students live in university provided halls of residence - modern facilities that come equipped with gyms, cafes and common rooms.

The university has a Distance Learning Centre where the same courses undertaken by full-time students are open to students who are unable to attend classes in-person.

UI also runs a number of public facilities, including a media resource centre that offers educational workshops, reading services and consultancies for schools and children’s libraries.

The university has its own zoological and botanical gardens, which house endangered animals and plants, and run conservation programmes dedicated to supporting environmental needs. 

Among the university’s alumni  are the writer Wole Soyinka, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, and Chinua Achebe whose novel Things Fall Apart is the most widely read book in contemporary African literature.

Ibadan itself is a major commercial city in southwest Nigeria, located inland about 70 miles from Lagos.