The Unit has the following key responsibilities to the Vice-Chancellor and the university as a whole.

(a) It serves as the university’s link to the NUC and it is responsible for ensuring the adherence of the university to all rules and regulations spelt out by NUC for the establishment and smooth running of all academic units and programmes in the university. Other responsibilities include the preparation of all academic units for resource verification (for new academic units and programmes), regular NUC accreditation exercises of already established programmes including those in the main university, affiliated institutions, and the Open and Distant Learning (ODL); ensuring that all academic programmes comply strictly to the curriculum specified by NUC to be followed for academic training.

(b) It serves as the link to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) particularly for academic staff development, academic and non-teaching staff conference attendance, Research funds, such as Institution Base Research (IBR), National Research Fund (NRF), Academic Book publishing and Journal support.

(c) It serves as a link between the university and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). In this regard, the Unit, together with the Admissions Office ensures that the requirements (including O’ Level and A’ Level and subject combinations) for admission to each programme in the university are uploaded in the appropriate JAMB portal for easy access by all intending candidates to be admitted into the university. All issues emanating from admission letters and NYSC posting of students relating to JAMB are resolved by the Unit in conjunction with the Admissions Office and Students’ Affairs unit of the university.

(d) The Unit is involved with data gathering on staff (academic and non-teaching) and students' analysis for appropriateness of staffing and students’ admission. Thus, the Unit regularly publishes the “Pocket Statistics” to inform the university and other stakeholders including the NUC, TETFund and other international organizations (e.g. Times Higher Education (THE), Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) etc.) which use such information on staff strength, student population, available academic programmes and infrastructures for learning and for universities ranking respectively.

(e) The Unit is also involved with yearly information gathering from all Units of the University for the Annual Report publication. This it does with the assistance of the Director of Special Duties (DSD) in the office of the Vice-Chancellor.

(f) The Academic Planning Unit in conjunction with the Senate Committee on Webometric and ranking and accreditation, undertake mock resource verification and accreditation exercises of both new and old programmes to ascertain the state of readiness/preparedness of the Faculties and Departments. Information gathered from these exercises are collated and presented to the Vice- Chancellor for necessary action towards ensuring successful accreditation of programmes in the university.

(g) The Unit, through its Director, guides the Vice-Chancellor and the university Senate on academic matters including the establishment of new academic units and programmes, curriculum development and reviews and change of nomenclature or name(s) of academic programme(s) and/or units.

By implication therefore, the Academic Planning Unit of the university is an integral part of the Vice Chancellor’s Office charged with the responsibility of coordinating academic activities in the university by collecting, managing and analysing data towards its academic enhancement while ensuring compliance with National Universities Commission’s Basic Minimum Academic Standard (BMAS) and the new Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standard (CCMAS). The position of the Academic Planning Unit is so strategic that it can be considered the fulcrum of academic activities of the University system. The Unit is engaged in Academic Discipline/Quality control/Students’ Admission and Staff employment/ Academic programmes and Curriculum development. It is therefore involved in the developing and implementing strategic plans, conducting needs assessments and analysing data, providing recommendations for resource allocation, monitoring and evaluating progress towards goals and objectives. The Academic Planning Unit has thus been engaged in providing:

(i) Support to University of Ibadan’s strategic, academic and budgetary planning and decision making through the analyses, presentation, and distribution of relevant and timely information, policy analyses, and projections of future trends, such as

· Students’ enrolment projections,

· Student retention and graduation rates,

· Staff workload analyses

· Revenue projections,

· Retirement projections, and

· Physical facilities projections.

(ii) Coordinating academic planning processes such as:

· Development of new units, courses and programmes

· Review of existing courses to meet societal needs and in compliance with the NUC regulations

· Assessment of academic programmes in the University

(iii) Facilitating the flow of information among educational bodies, the university management, University Senate and University academic and non-academic units regarding these processes.

(iv) Prepare comparative analyses of the university with peer institutions to provide a context for budget and planning initiatives. Examples include student enrollment patterns and comparative staff structure.

(v) Responding to internal and external requests for information about institutional characteristics.

From the foregoing, it must be emphasised that the APU operates basically as an information gathering and synthesising Unit, relying on data supplied by the various Units of the University, synthesising and analysing the data to produce and provide necessary information which may be needed from the University either internally or externally. Therefore the APU depends largely on the cooperation of the different Units supplying the information and Data

Finally, the Academic Planning Unit is aimed at strengthening the University governance, leadership and management by building a strong relationship with government leaders, business leaders, professional bodies, educational bodies and our surrounding communities by suggesting strategies for quality teaching and research, developing entrepreneurial education (and other soft skills), and intensifying links between the public and private sectors.