The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university in Lagos, Nigeria. It is one of the five first generation universities in Nigeria and was founded in 1962. The University presently has three Campuses in the Mainland of Lagos. Whereas two of its Campuses are located in Yaba, its College of Medicine is located in Idi-Araba, Surulere. Its main campus is largely surrounded by the Lagos lagoon and has 802 acres of land. The University of Lagos currently admits over 9,000 Undergraduate students annually and enrolls over 57,000 students.
History
UNILAG was founded in 1962, two years after Nigerian independence from Britain. It was one of the first five universities created in the country, now known as a "first generation university". In 2019, the BBC reported that "Female reporters were sexually harassed, propositioned and put under pressure by senior lecturers at the institutions – all the while wearing secret cameras". The current vice-chancellor is Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe. He has been the vice-chancellor since 2017.
Academics and research
The university has remained one of the most competitive in the country in terms of admissions. With approximately 57,000 students as of 2013, the University of Lagos has one of the largest student populations of any university in the country. The University of Lagos is one of the twenty-five federal universities which are overseen and accredited by the National Universities Commission. A recent publication of Forbes magazine ranked the school as the 3rd best university in Africa for entrepreneurship after University of Cape Town and Makariere University, tagging University of Lagos the “startup powerhouse” college for Nigerian students. The university has been called "the University of First Choice and the Nation's Pride." The university's research activity was one of the major criteria used by the National Universities Commission in adjudging the university as the best university in Nigeria at the Nigerian University System Annual Merit Award in 2008. The University of Lagos College of Medicine is associated with Lagos University Teaching Hospital. On the 29th of June, 2020, the university received robots,CRZR, from platform capital as a donation to fight the spread of COVID-19.
On 29 May 2012, the then President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, proposed to rename the University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University in honor of Moshood Abiola, who died in jail as a political prisoner in 1998. The proposed name change became a subject of protests from students and alumni. The proposal was consequently jettisoned as the Nigerian Federal Government gave in to the protests incited by the proposed name change.
