OOU seeks to give useful learning to its students who will be encouraged to cultivate a world view that facilitates not only the continuous pursuit of academic and moral excellence but also developing their expertise and competence in reducing the quagmire of society's disease, ignorance and squalor. The University shall therefore be rooted in its community and act, at all times, as a beacon and symbol of the spirit of the community (local and national), a guardian of its moral and a formulator of its hopes and aspirations. Accordingly, it shall cultivate a distinct tradition and character that reflect those essential values and nuances that give the host and national communities their distinctive flavour and identity.

Vision

" The OLABISI ONABANJO UNIVERSITY shall be the centre of academic excellence where knowledge, skills and value will be pursued relentlessly to ensure the flowering of human abilities, service to the Nigerian nation and the world at large in the wider context of traditional wisdom and culture."

Mission

" To provide the best educational experience for our students and the public through excellence in teaching, research and creative activities and service to the State, society and the world at large".

Core Values

In the context of shared Vision and collective Mission , coupled with the aspiration to assist OOU to attain and remain at the cutting edge of research, learning and higher education in Nigeria and in the international arena, the following values will guide the work performance during this plan period and beyond:

• Commitment, Competence, Teamwork and Self-motivatioin;
• Initiative, Hard Work and Sacrifice;
• Loyalty and Sincerity;
• Integrity and Honesty;
• Excellent Professional Service;
• Client (Students, Government, other Stakeholders) Satisfaction and Delight;
• Fool-proof Professional Conduct;
• Resourcefulness and Initiative;
• Superior Productivity;
• Gender Consciousness and Sensitivity;
• Transparency, Accountability and Due Process;
• Innovativeness and Positive Change;
• Good Corporate Governance.

Strategic Objectives

OOU was established to discharge a tripod of responsibilities, namely, teaching, research and community service. These responsibilities entail that the University

• Produces broadly educated men and women
• Supplies specialist manpower;
• Guards the flames of scholarship;
• Becomes part of the leadership of the new technological revolution; and
• Produces ambassadors of a wider world.

It is against the above background that the University aspires to:

• have comprehensive strength in its undergraduate programmes;
• have postgraduate and professional programmes in a significant number of areas;
• have academic staff of national and international distinction;
• nurture a tradition of distinguished research and scholarship;
• cultivate a high quality work environment that not only conduces to high academic attainment but also encourages the finest essence of ethical behaviour among staff and students; and
• create a culturally diverse and inclusive University community that continuously seeks ways of generating more wealth for the University through venue generation.

Strength

It is not only in its multi-campus flavour and the diversity of its courses offering that OOU has distinguished itself over the years. It has indeed excelled in a number of subject areas and disciplines. The University's degrees in Medicine and Law have since won international acclaim and graduates from thee programmes are in hot demand among employers. It is extra-ordinary indeed that until very recently, OOU was the only University belonging to a State Government in Nigeria that has an accredited programme in Medicine and Pharmacy. The Performance of the University's graduates in Medicine has the twin blessing of recognition and prominence to OOU. The Faculty of Law has been outstanding in more ways than one. This is borne out by the performance of its graduates in the Law School and in the labour market. In 1995, students of the Faculty participated in a Moot Conference organized in South Africa for all Law students across the entire globe. Due to the outstanding performance of the students, the Faculty got invited once again to a similar conference in Morocco in October 1996. In view of its high quality, the Law programme in June 1997 attracted the full accreditation of the Nigerian Legal Council which also increased the University's quota in the Nigerian Law School form 70 to 150. It is equally noteworthy that the University's Diploma and M.Sc. programmes in Transport (in the Faculty of Social Sciences) are the first in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Of interest, is the remarkable performance of the University at the 1 st Nigerian Universities Research and Development Fair organized by the National Universities Commission (NUC) at Abuja in 2004. OOU emerged the best overall winner among State Universities and came 4 th among the 43 institutions that included the Federal Universities. Other prizes won by the University were the participation award for the presentation of Research Projects of High Standards with Relevance to National Development and Outstanding Contribution Award in the field of Education and Sports Sciences. Remarkably too, graduates across other disciplines including Accounting, Business Administration and Education, have recorded outstanding performances. Indeed, many of the academically inclined ones have completed their doctorate programme in record time in older Nigerian Universities. Indeed, the University can be described as a bastion of learning with a potentially great future.

OOU has always believed in good character formation and high ethical standards among its students. It was the imperative of a sound moral character for its students that informed the University's inclusion of such general and compulsory courses as GNS 001 and 002, namely, "Rural Life and Agriculture", and "Nigerian Life and Culture" in its curriculum even before the National Universities Commission made some general courses compulsory for all Nigerian Universities. It is little wonder that given their relative experience in enhanced character building, graduates of OOU have always won National Merit Awards on the basis of their performance in the compulsory post-graduation one-year National Youth Service programme. Equally remarkable on our students is the fact that there has never been a recourse to the destruction of University property during the few incidents of students demonstrations in OOU.

It probably requires no emphasis that the course offerings of OOU are so rich that they attract students and academics from educational institutions from all over Nigeria and beyond in terms of admission, sabbatical leave, appointments, linkages and affiliations. The student population has grown phenomenally over the time. From a registration of a mere 500 students in 1983, there were student enrolments of 5,771 in 1994; 17,695 in 2001/2002 and a total full-time and part-time student population in 2001/2002 of 45,000 for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The total student population was about 50,000 in 2003/2004 and as of 2004/2005 it has increased to about 60,000 (fulltime and part-time) .

The physical development of OOU is developing apace with its academic programmes. The Central Administration of the University moved to the permanent site on 14 th September, 1995 . The Faculties of Arts and Social and Management Sciences in Ijebu-Igbo annex also moved to the Main-Campus on 3 rd July, 1998 . At the time of the movement, sixteen projects/buildings had been completed or were nearing completion. Out of the sixteen buildings, nine were donated by philanthropists; seven were executed directly by the University with its internally-generated funds while one was completed by the State Government. Since the historic movement, a number of other projects have been completed or are near completion.