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President's 2024 Welcome Message

Dear Prospective Students and Friends of AUST,

Welcome to the African University of Science and Technology (AUST)! If you are a prospective student, the fact that you have come this far and are now reading this message is an indication that you are one of those people looking for serious, life-changing, career development opportunities, the type of person AUST was established to serve.


Founded in 2007 as one of the Nelson Mandela Institutes (NMI-Abuja), it was created with the idea of developing African Centers of Excellence in Science and Technology and to foster innovation in those fields in sub-Saharan Africa. In our case, the mandate included a special focus on Energy and Materials.


If you are a prospective donor or a friend of AUST, we are pleased that you are exploring with us ways in which we can give life to the dream that Nelson Mandela created for us, to enhance Africa’s capacity in Science and Technology, and to develop the human capital needed to achieve that dream!


Since admitting its first cohort in 2008, AUST-Abuja has been offering programs leading to M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science, Management of Information Technology, Material Science, Petroleum Engineering, Pure and Applied Mathematics, Theoretical and Applied Physics, Space Physics, Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Geoinformatics and GIS, Applied Statistics, Mathematical Modelling, Public Policy, and Public Administration.


As promised,we have commenced undergraduate courses in AUST after going through the approval process of the National Universities Commission. Currently, we have eight undergraduate departments, there are Accounting, Business Administration, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Petroleum Engineering and Software Engineering.


While the focus is on research, with a specific requirement for all students, especially doctoral candidates, to produce work of a quality that generally gets published in major journals even before they complete their studies, we believe strongly in also providing our students with a very strong foundation in the practical basis of their disciplines and their cognates.


Therefore, beyond these core subjects, our students also have the opportunity to participate in interdisciplinary studies that enable them to link their knowledge in Science and Engineering to business and innovation.


This hybrid education prepares our students well for careers in science, engineering, business, application of science to policy development, and/or to make cutting-edge contributions to science, including technology innovations that have real-life applications.


Our mission to build a center of excellence in Science and Technology for the direct benefit of Africa is already becoming a reality. Every single one of our graduates, so far, has found meaningful employment in his/her field of training and every single one of our doctoral students has published at least 2 papers in Q1 journals indexed in at least SCOPUS before graduating.


Research by AUST scientists and engineers has already produced solutions and products that address African needs in oil and gas, energy, water, infrastructure, health, telecommunications and mining, and minerals processing. These include new organic solar cells and light emitting devices, oil and gas drilling technology, water filters, sustainable building materials, novel materials for corrosion inhibition and mitigation in oil and gas pipelines, barite mining and processing, nanoparticles/BioMEMS for detection and treatment of cancer and applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence in various economic sectors including health and shelter.


Our research groups are also exploring the frontiers of pure and applied mathematics, as well as theoretical and applied physics, fields in which they are among the leading minds in Africa.


We are also proud of the fact that, in an effort to increase the participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), we have secured support to fully fund Master’s and Doctoral studies/research for all young women who meet our admission requirements. In the year (2021), two of our female Doctoral Graduates (Lois Okereke and Sandra Jusu Musu were among the recipients of the prestigious Foundation L’Oreal – UNESCO For Women in Science Young Talent Award for sub-Saharan Africa.


To encourage our young talents and future innovators and entrepreneurs, the university has established an innovation hub called AUSTInspire. This hub will promote innovations, entrepreneurship, start-ups, university industry collaboration and offer short continuing professional development courses and university foundation studies for the continent.


So, we look forward to seeing you on our campus soon, either as a student, researcher, donor, collaborator, entrepreneur or as a guest at events that periodically bring together the friends and partners of AUST.
 
Sincerely,
Professor Azikiwe Peter Onwualu, FAS
Acting President, AUST

Email: President@aust.edu.ng

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