Welcome Speech!
With utmost pleasure, I welcome you to the Web page of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria.
Established in 1962, the Faculty of Arts was one of the foundation Faculties in the University. In its over five decades of existence, the Faculty has, through its teaching, research and community service activities, contributed tremendously to human resources development in the nation and beyond. Its distinguished and resourceful scholars over the years have been extending frontiers of knowledge in Arts and Humanities. Among them are Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize winner in Literature, Ola Rotimi, notable African Playwright, Akinwumi Isola, National Merit Award Winner, Akin Euba, a celebrated musicologist, J. Olubi Sodipo, the accomplished Philosopher’ in the areas of Epistemology, Metaphysics and African Philosophy, Adeagbo Akinjogbin, one of the pioneers of African History scholarship, Wande Abimbola and Oyin Ogunba, purveyors of indigenous Oral Literature and so on.
The Faculty has experienced structural changes. However, eight academic Departments (Dramatic Arts, English, Foreign Languages, History, Linguistics and African Languages, Music, Philosophy and Religious Studies) and a research unit (Institute of Cultural Studies). These Departments offer undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the following areas: Dramatic Arts, Yoruba, Linguistics, English language, English as a Second Language, Literature in English, French, German, Portuguese, History, Philosophy and Religious Studies.
Also on offer are Combined Honors degrees at the Undergraduate level in some of the courses listed above. In this option, a student combines his/her major subject with another from within or outside the Faculty, in accordance with University regulations.
Through the eight academic Departments and the Institute of Cultural Studies, the Faculty has promoted awareness and generated useful knowledge about African Arts and cultures.
The web site offers a huge harvest of information about the Faculty, especially about its activities, its manpower as well as teaching and research facilities.
