Edward Olutoke, a postgraduate student at Lagos State University (LASU), has emphasised the importance of international collaboration among students. He says that instead of focusing only on their alma mater, postgraduate students should collaborate with their peers at other universities to foster the exchange of ideas across borders.
In a speech shortly after being elected as the first president of the Global Association of Post Graduate Students (GAPOGS) in the United States, Olutoke stated that the association was founded on the belief that postgraduate students are inherently higher reasoning individuals, regardless of their personal circumstances. He also added that by having faculty members of this calibre, their institutions would be able to receive the essential intellectual and material support.
He said the group would create the all-inclusive ambience, which would fast-track handshakes of postgraduate students across borders, while ultimately creating a global community where scholars would facilitate development of their various campuses.
He said: “The aim of GAPOGS is to establish a dynamic and supportive international network that empowers postgraduate students by providing opportunities for academic growth, inter-disciplinary collaborations, cultural exchange, and professional advancement.
“GAPOGS is the unifying platform that promotes intellectual engagement, supports research endeavours, and cultivates a sense of camaraderie among postgraduate scholars globally,” Olutoke added.
On the purpose of GAPOGS, Olutoke said the body would seek collaborations with academic institutions, research institutes, corporate organisations, and individuals across the world, for academic growth, cultural exchange, business empowerment as well as professional advancement, among members.
Aside that, he added that the body would further engender an active intellectual entity that would support research undertakings in addition to skill acquisition, and other needs of students, which would connect both the town and gown, facilitate academic exchange programmes, joint research initiatives and academic mobility of members.
Olutoke listed a number of the group’s benefits, including the encouragement of scholarly discourse, the regular planning of seminars, webinars, and conferences, the enhancement of members’ professional development, mentoring, and public speaking abilities, the support of undergraduate students in their academic endeavours, the emphasis on the role of postgraduate students in attending to special needs on campuses, and the taking on of global challenges.