By Joseph Atainyang
Like the blended principle which binds the operational dynamics of Top Faith Group of Schools, the University is standing on a philosophical tripod.
Top Faith Group of Schools has created for itself a unique and perfect brand. The conglomerate of academic institutions is rolling swiftly on the runway of scholarship. Top Faith is fast growing past its age. It is making waves and gaining grounds. The coast seems boundless. The sky is merely becoming the journey’s take off point.
Like the saying goes, every vision is for a time. A vision is the foundation for every season of manifestation. While vision may tarry, only death has the potent power for its termination.
Sometimes, an ‘accidental’ transition or incapacitation of a visionary doesn’t portend total cancellation of a dream. Top Faith hasn’t failed to come to pass, like some of God’s best wishes for humanity. It is a glorious testimony of a painstaking assemblage of best pedagogic philosophy.
Top Faith Group of Schools is located in Mkpatak, Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The Secondary School lies 12km from Abak town and about 23km from Uyo, the state capital. The Montessori follows about 300 metres away, before the University sits on a flat topography.
It was exactly 20 years ago in 2001 that Top Faith International Secondary School berthed. In June 2002, the Akwa Ibom State Government through the Ministry of Education approved commencement of academic activities. The vision for incorporation of a university was fresh from inception.
Dr Emmanuel Abraham, however, established the Top Faith Montessori Nursery & Primary School (TMNPS) in 2010. The aim was to nurture pupils of nursery and primary school ages in Montessori education system. But the vision of a university never died.
Little wonder that Top Faith University is finally founded. Like the blended principle which binds the operational dynamics of Top Faith Group of Schools, the University is standing on a philosophical tripod. It is a cornucopia of an enduring reflection. The longer the vision tarried in the founder’s imaginative tank, the better refinement it underwent. The product is a faultless picturesque of mental perfection.
Arrangements are concluded for the school to commence academic activities in September 2021, under the 2021/2022 academic session. Its core value is a passionate provision of transformational education. This, according to the founder and Chairman, Dr Emmanuel Abraham is the inspiration promoting the idea of the university.
Designed to offer a distinct curriculum to capture the scope of its programmes, the university stilts on a strong footing. Top Faith University kicks off in September 2021, as the National Universities Commission (NUC) has approved programmes to be offered.
These are Faculties of Management and Social Sciences, Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences, Law, among others. According to the Founder, programmes are to be offered in Media and Communication Studies, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Electronics, Telecommunications Engineering, Law programmes, and many others.
Through the tripodal philosophy christened as ‘3D Philosophy’ – discovery, development and deployment, the school is set to introduce uncommon realm of knowledge. As the founder notes, ‘’the University is poised to discover potential talents in students. It has interest in offering the enabling environments to develop the talents. Ultimately, it is prepared to provide the inspiration for proper deployment of developed talents.’’
Averse to what he describes as ‘intellectual brain drain,’ Dr Abraham is determined to making Top Faith University focus on peculiar area of research. He believes in changing the narrative of rural-urban migration, a situation deliberately explained by siting Top Faith Group of Schools in the village.
The promise of a conscious effort of “dedicating available resources to solving immediate research challenges” is another reason. Abraham is expectant of a tantalizing educational ride based on a vision of capacity building, transformation and focus.”
The tripodal philosophy is also anchored on specialized entrepreneurial development being envisaged as an integral part of the curriculum. These are absolute reasons Abraham is confident that Top Faith University is on the right track to satisfy the academic needs of students, parents and other stakeholders.
In what seems to have traversed a whole community, the first phase of the University lies in a vast area of 138.1 hectares of land. The whole place is fully fenced, properly sectionalized and partitioned into various units and sectors: geographically, philosophically and environmentally. The artistic alignments of structures in the University are delicious meal to the eyes.
Ultramodern structures are evenly distributed such that a visitor is enthralled by its interior ambience. A group of journalists who were on campus recently, got greeted by the creative venture of an architectural expertise. State-of-the-arts infrastructure is built to garb a serene, secure and conducive environment. Just as the secondary and the Montessori subsidiaries, the university is a friendly and welcoming environment to aid pupils’ concentration and the learning ability.
Engineering laboratories are fully equipped with fabricating machines. Even though academic activities are yet to begin, doors and other forms of fittings used in the university are fabricated in the workshop. Paper milling machines are equally intact. This is strengthened by the formal introduction of Entrepreneurial Studies to be run simultaneously, having been captured in the academic curriculum. To achieve this, the fully loaded General Entrepreneurship Studies Centre and the various forms of engineering tools are readily available for effective practical exposure.
There are ongoing constructions in about 20 hectares of land. Internal roads are mostly asphalted. Others are wearing looks of construction preparations. There are 34 flats of four bedroom bungalows being prepared as staff quarters.
When a team of journalists visited the university on Wednesday, March 3, where they spent 90 minutes touring the campus in a vehicle, finishing touches were being carried out at the staff quarters. The residence of the Vice Chancellor is a neatly built and furnished storey building, carefully situated in a reserved section of the vicinity. The massive power house also boasts of a network of sound-proof generating sets to cater for the electricity demands of the university.
It is safe to assert that Top Faith University is a brand of its own. Carved in blended thought with philosophical foundations, the institution has a place in future history of academic ingenuity. The priority given to provision of all possible tools for practical engagements, tells a better story. The specialized entrepreneurship training centre is a morale booster to skills development, especially in vocational empowerment. The conducive ambiance offered by the spacious environment, constant electricity and other facilities, would partly give pulse to the mental stamina of students in the University.
Indeed, all these go to show that management of the university has been observant and futuristic in its arrangement. Top Faith, therefore, appears to have shared the philosophy of Jean-Bertrand Aristide who believes that Learning is strengthened and solidified when it occurs in a safe, secure and normal environment. This conviction undoubtedly supplies the useful elements for the verdict that Top Faith University has created for itself a perfect portrait of an academic serenity.
