The governing council of the First Technical University, Ibadan has announced the appointment of Professor Adesola Ajayi as successor to the pioneer Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ayobami Salami.
Before his appointment as the Vice-Chancellor of the citadel of learning, the Igbojaye born, Professor Sola Ajayi, the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor, is the current Deputy Vice-Chancellor of First Technical University.
Professor Sola Ajayi is an experienced agricultural scientist and higher education manager with several years teaching, research, and University management experience.
He obtained B.Agric (Plant Science) First Class Hons (1991) and M.Phil. (Plant Science) (1997) both from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and Dr. sc. agr. (Seed Biology) from Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany (2003). He was awarded the Faculty of Agriculture and Alli Idowu Prizes for being the student with the best overall performance in the final B.Agric. degree examinations and Professor Duncan’s First Prize for being the student with the best project work in the final B.Agric. (Plant Science) degree examinations (1991). He started his career as a Graduate Assistant at Obafemi Awolowo University in 1993 and rose through the ranks to become a Professor in 2010. He was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Crop and Grassland Science, Federal Agricultural Research Centre, Braunschweig Germany (1999-2003), Intermittent Visiting Scientist at Pioneer HiBred, Parndorf, Austria (2000-2001), Postdoctoral Scientist at the Plant Cell Biology Research Unit, School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa (2003-2005) and a founding Member of the Sustainable Futures in Africa Network. He has hosted and mentored 4 postdoctoral candidates and supervised more than 20 Master and doctoral students. Prof. Ajayi has more than 50 scientific publications to his credit.
