The Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, says the university will continue to shop around the world for the best ideas in medical education.

Ambali stated this on Monday in Ilorin while receiving members of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative in Nigeria (MEPIN) in his office.

He said that the management had mounted a concerted effort to make UNILORIN a bit of the U.S., a bit of the UK and elsewhere. "We look at those bits and pieces that make them better, and we domesticate these in such a way that improves learning in the institution," he said.

According to him, this is with a realisation that not every Nigerian can afford to send their children overseas to pursue medical education. The VC pointed out that the Clinical Skills Laboratory at the University's College of Health Sciences "is one of the best in the world judging by such facilities available in some of the most advanced countries that he had visited."

He said that it had become a sort of Mecca to medical schools from across the country. Ambali pledged the readiness of the university "to share our experience and endowments with our peers", stressing that "it is only the knowledge that is shared that is real knowledge."

On the issue of skill in writing for grants, the VC told members of MEPIN that the research manager in conjunction with an expert from abroad were already training researchers in the university. He said that the training was already yielding results with an increase in the number of grants coming to researchers in the university.

Ambali also disclosed that the university's animal laboratory had just been completed and would soon be equipped to commence operation. "The university has recorded an increase in the number of foreign and local grants coming to its researchers," he said.

Ambali said that to guarantee constant power supply for teaching and research, the university invested in a 33KVA dedicated power line that "now guarantees 21 to 22 hours power supply daily". He explained that the university had invested heavily in various plantations such as teak, oil palm, dates and jatropha, in a bid to supplement its resources without burdening the students with fees increase.

"We are investing so that we do not transfer the burden to our students," he said. Earlier in his remarks, the MEPIN team leader, Dr Wadzani Gashau from the University of Maiduguri, said that the team was at the university on a study-tour of its Clinical Skills Laboratory, adding that "is comparable to the best anywhere in the world".

"When we came and saw the facility, it was quite gratifying, we are indeed impressed with the set up, the serenity of the environment and the personnel.

"You have a jewel here that could be explored in terms of medical tourism," he said. He said that "the potential of the university is great, judging by its holistic approach to education", noting that "the university has the best Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure in the country."

"The MEPIN provides an opportunity to address many of the challenges facing the Nigerian educational institutions today with the overall goal of improving and strengthening the medical education system in the country.

"MEPIN is a consortium of six universities from the six geo-political zones in the country and its purpose is to enhance medical knowledge and skills in Nigeria,'' he said. The MEPIN member-institutions are the University of Jos, University of Maiduguri, University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the University of Lagos.(NAN)