Nigerian Students Steal The Show At Ukrainian Varsity Graduation
It was a day of joy for 50 medical students of the Osun State University and their parents at the weekend as they ended their medical studies at the V.N Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine.
One of the new medical doctors, Miss Oyeleye Lateefah Abiola, was named by the Vice-President for Research and Education of the University, Prof Mykola O. Azarenkov as the overall Best graduating student from both the Faculty of Medicine and in the entire university.
She came out with a percent score of 95.6% in the KROK 2 Exams which was the final examination for graduating students.
The convocation arena erupted in cheers as the best graduating student mounted the stage to deliver her speech.
The Karazin Kharkiv National University is 213 years old having been founded in November 1804. It is one of the oldest and leading universities in the Eastern Europe. It is second oldest university in the Ukraine, second only to the University of Lviv, Ukraine.
The university has produced at least three Nobel Prize laureates. They include Ilie Mechnikov (Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine); Simon Kuznet (1971 Nobel Prize in Economics); and Lev Landau (Physics).
The 50 Nigerian students from Osun were the cynosure of all eyes at the event.
They were among the 87 who were sponsored by the Ogbeni led Government of Osun in 2013 to study Medicine at the National University of Kharkiv, Ukraine out of the inherited 98 students who secured admission to study Medicine at the state-owned University but could not continue due to non-accreditation of their medical programme for lack of a standard teaching hospital.
Respite came the way of the students, who were in their year 3rd, 4th and 5th years respectively when the governor decided to send them to Ukraine after a rigorous search for universities across the world where their dreams of becoming medical doctors could be realised.
Aregbesola’s decision to send the stranded medical students of the State University to a foreign university to complete their medical studies was borne out of the conviction of his administration that no sacrifice would be too much to secure better future for the students, at a reasonable cost.
The Deputy Governor, Mrs Grace Titi Laoye-Tomori, who represented Ogbeni at the event, said the graduation of the students was dream come true.
Aregbesola had said his government facilitated the transfer of the students because it believed that a responsible government must fulfill its part of a pact entered into with the people irrespective of which person or party in power signed the agreement, since governance is a continuum.
According to Laoye-Tomori, “We feel fulfilled that the students, who would have had their dreams aborted, have today realised their ambition of becoming medical doctors. This is one of our outstanding success stories in Osun.
“We have kept faith with these students, their parents and guardians towards realising their life time ambition. In spite of the acute paucity of funds that our state has been facing, we never renege on our promise to see them through. Today, we are happy we have caused their dreams to become realities.”
The Vice Chancellor of the Osun State University, Prof Labo Popoola, said at the graduation ceremony “This is an indication of leadership with vision.”
