The Department of Soil Science and Technology was created in the 2001/2002 academic session. The young Department then was created out of the former Department of Crop and Soil Science. The first intake consisted of seventy-six students. To date, the Department has five streams of undergraduate students with a total enrolment well over three hundred students. Over thirty students are currently pursuing their postgraduate programmes at different Postgraduate (PGD, MSc, PhD) levels. Further, the academic staff consists of two Professors, two Readers, four Senior Lecturers, two Lecturer 1, three Lecturer 11, three Assistant Lecturers and one Graduate Assistant. Again, the non-teaching staff consists of one administrative officer, one assistant administrator, one executive officer, one chief laboratory technologist, three technologist ll, six agricultural superintendents, two clerical officers and two farmhands.
Currently, the Agricultural Programme in FUTO has undergone very important curriculum review. Previously, the fourth-year students had one-semester course work and one full semester industrial placement. But now the new Senate approved curriculum provides one full academic session for the fourth-year student of the Department and the entire Agricultural Program. By this, the students of Soil Science and Technology will proceed on Industrial Training after second-semester examination in their third year. This according to NUC is what should obtain in Agricultural training programmes in Nigerian Universities nationwide. We hope that the students of Soil Science will make very good use of this opportunity to enrich their industrial experience before graduation. This way the graduates will be more employable, having one-year post-graduation work experience. The Department has enjoyed full accreditation since its inception. We hope to continue to provide Leadership, Research and Teaching in Science of the Soil and Technology to remain a reference point in Soil Science Education east of the Niger. This is the third edition of this handbook.
Dr. (Mrs) B.N Aririguzo
Ag. HOD, SST
PAST HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENT
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