As an integral part of the University, the Department of Mathematics/Statistics, as it is now known has an evolutionary trajectory, which is synonymous with the three-stage metamorphosis of the Institution. It started as the Department of Mathematics when the Institution was established as an Advanced Teacher Training College (ATTC) in 1970. The Department took off with 17 students and 4 lecturers. In 1975 the name of the Institution was changed to Rivers State College of Education. With this change, the status and structure of the institution also changed.
By Edict N0.1 of 25th February, 1975, Rivers State College of Education was statutorily empowered to award the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) to students. Being one of the Departments in the then School of Natural and Applied Sciences, the Department of Mathematics trained students for the award of the NCE in affiliation with the University of Ibadan. Thus, the Department presented 12 graduating students at the first graduation ceremony of Rivers State College of Education in 1977, which involved four graduating sets.
In 1984, the Department was considered competent to train students for the award of the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) in Mathematics. One student started this programme in 1984. The third stage of the metamorphosis of the institution happened in 2009. In that year, the institution was elevated to University status. Accordingly, the name changed from Rivers State College of Education to Rivers State University of Education and later to Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. The change also brought about structural changes. In consonance with the new status, the Department also metamorphosed from the Department of Mathematics to the Department of Mathematics/Statistics in the Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences. Since 1984 when the B.Ed. Programme started, the Department has continued to train and graduate students; some coming out with First Class Honours degrees. In Fact, the best graduating student in the whole University in 2014 came from the Department of Mathematics/Statistics.
Ignatius Ajuru University of Education inherited the Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences from its parent institution, Rivers State College of Education along with the latter’s pristine Department of Mathematics which had only NCE and the B.Ed programmes in Mathematics to bequeath to IAUE in 2009. Thus, the new University’s Department of Mathematics/Statistics inherited a B.Ed programme in Mathematics, not a B.Sc. programme. However, the Bachelor of Science in Mathematics (ie. B.Sc. in Mathematics) was presented to the NUC and approval was granted for the programme to be mounted. Since the University does not have a distinct Department of Statistics, the Department of Mathematics/Statistics treats Statistics as a branch of Mathematics and just designates its undergraduate Mathematics Degree programme options as B.Sc.Ed in Mathematics and B.Sc. in Mathematics even where the undergraduate final year research project is decidedly a Statistics project.
Philosophy
The Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE) Bachelor of Science in Education (Mathematics) and Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) programmes are designed and run with the philosophically sound intention to prepare a new breed of exquisite professional graduates of Mathematics (Pure & Applied) for service at the levels of basic education, comprehensive senior secondary education, the College of Education NCE programmes, the polytechnic Diploma programmes and other industrial/commercial settings. It is reasonably expected that in the contexts of NCE, ND or HND programmes, graduates of the IAUE B.Sc.Ed (Mathematics) and BSc (Mathematics) programmes will always be found competent. The overall philosophy of the postgraduate programme in the department of Mathematics/Statistics is the training of Mathematics/Statistics professionals/scholars on the bases of the design and implementation of research programmes to enhance, upgrade and add positive value to the human condition.
Aim/Objectives
The following are the objectives of the BSc.Ed and BSc (Mathematics) programmes:
- Prepare globally employable professional graduates BSc Ed and BSc Mathematics (Pure & Applied) for teaching in all formal educational programmes which are not more advanced in mathematics content than the standard university B.Sc. Ed (Mathematics) and BSc (Mathematics) programmes can satisfy.
- Prepare globally employable professional graduates of mathematics for service in all formal job settings which are not more advanced in their mathematical tasks than the standard university B.Sc.Ed (Mathematics) and BSc (Mathematics) programmes can satisfy.
- Prepare professional graduate workers/teachers in Mathematics and Statistics who have acquired superior expertise in the pertinent practical skills/pedagogical, curricular and instructional knowledge and the right attitudinal complements.
- Prepare graduate mathematics professionals who are very highly capable of adopting and implementing the ICT-supported scientific research approach to problem identification, definition, data acquisition analysis and resolution in the context of mathematics or statistics.
- Prepare graduate mathematics science/education professionals who themselves can make very thoughtful, meaningful and workable contributions to current debates and discussions toward the realization of the innovative instructional strategies, methods, techniques and materials for promoting learning, research and public policy effectiveness, particularly in government and industry.
- Produce graduate education professionals in Mathematics and Statistics who can move up to benefit by related more advanced education in any of the mathematical science-based specializations at any academic or professional university graduate school.
- Produce the millennial new breed of Mathematics graduates who can leverage existing and emerging digital technologies to make theory, practice and research more of an exciting pleasurable experience than the abhorred drudgery that mathematical and statistical problem-solving can easily become otherwise
The aim and objectives of the postgraduate programmes in Mathematics/Statistics are to:
- Develop professional expertise of students.
- Develop knowledgeable scholars who will provide leadership in professional practice and intellectual competence.
- Produce scholars who are knowledgeable in and committed to the implementation of the National Policy on Education.
- Develop competent researchers in mathematical theory and practice for the Nigerian educational and industrial system.
- Empower scholars who can propel social change through research both intellectually, in attitudes, skills, values and world views.
- Produce mathematics scholars who can give Nigerian education a national identity while making it relevant in a global context.
- Produce mathematics scholars who are committed to the transformation of educational delivery through effective application and utilization of ICT in a national and global context.
- Provide mathematics scholars who would teach and provide leadership at different levels of higher education.
- Produce scholars who would compete with similar scholars from any part of the world and carry out diverse research.
- Produce educators with entrepreneurial skills in educational enterprise to enable them to be self–reliant and demonstrate high leadership qualities.
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