The Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences (CIS), University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Prof Lenrie Aina, has identified dearth of academic staff, irregular admission processes and shortage of facilities as the major challenges facing the five-year-old faculty.

He disclosed this at a press briefing with newsmen to unveil the programme lined up to mark the fifth anniversary of the faculty.

Aina noted that some professionals the faculty would have employed as academic staff had been hijacked by the telecommunication and media industries with higher salaries.

“Many graduates whom we could have employed as lecturers had opted to work in the telecommunication industries because of the higher salaries being offered by these firms,” he said.

According to him, over 6,000 applicants yearly applied to study in the faculty, with the Department of Mass Communication having the highest number of candidates. He said the faculty could only admit a maximum of 200 students due to the shortage of academic staff and facilities.

The Dean hoped that the faculty would expand its facilities with donations from corporate individuals and organisations during the anniversary celebrations.

Speaking on the anniversary, Aina said the CIS faculty was designed to take full advantage of multidisciplinary interactions of the science and technologies of computing, information and communication, adding that its curricula had been designed to reflect the reality.

He said the faculty had recorded remarkable achievements within a short period, stressing that the faculty spearheaded the development of courseware in the university, which according to him, was aimed at taking the institution to e-learning platform for course delivery.

The Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences (CIS) was formally established via the decision of the university Senate at its 193rd (Special) meeting held on June 20, 2008. Part of the decisions in the meeting was the movement of department such as Computer Science from the Faculty of Science to CIS;

The faculty comprised five departments including Computer Science, Mass Communication, Library and Information Sciences (LIS), Telecommunication Sciences (TCS) and Information and Communication Sciences (ICS).