The demand for materials engineers has increased very rapidly in the last quarter of the last century due to the numerous national and state metallurgical projects, many of which are in advanced stages of execution, development of numerous ancillary and metal conversion industries and progress in other relevant sectors of the Nigerian economy. Over the years, the Department has played a leading role in training and research focused on ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy and has produced over 700 graduates. Graduates of the department can now be found in almost all the facets of the Metallurgical and Materials Industries in the country.

In the last decade or so, the focus in most parts of the world has changed from primary metals to various other materials. This is in response to the current materials needs of Engineering, which can no longer be fulfilled by the traditional primary metals. Areas of application in which more sophisticated materials are now required include electronics, information technology, transportation, construction, biomedical materials, aerospace, nuclear engineering, etc. The global focus of research and development in materials is now on alloys, superalloys, biomaterials, ceramics (engineering ceramics, electroceramics, cermets etc), glasses, vitreous enamel, sol-gel, polymers, composites and degradation of materials (corrosion engineering). The materials-environment cycle has also become a very important subject for training and research.

The Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering has responded to this new trend by re-designing its programmes characterized by a significant shift of emphasis. The current honours degree programme in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering has been drawn up in line with both the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and the Nigeria University Commission (NUC) approved Minimum Accreditation standards (MACS). It was also informed by the need to develop a research and development culture in the department in consonance with current trends in the materials world, industry and public service/parastatals that are having direct relevance to the peculiar needs of the people of Nigeria in particular and the developing world in general.

Our new policy mission within the department is to accentuate:

(i) Quality in the pursuit of excellence

(ii) Creativity; in research, training, thinking and problem solving; and to ensure

(iii) Relevance - which may be measured by how much the knowledge and skills so acquired can transform our Nation for greater technological growth.

Our new initiative is built upon the University and industrial linkage in order to facilitate the university-productive sector linkages.

The base programme provides fundamentals of materials science and engineering, materials’ production technology, materials selection for engineering applications, materials extraction and degradation in hostile environment, etc. Under the program, students have the opportunity to specialize in their final year in any of the three options namely; Ceramic and Polymer Engineering (Option A), Metallurgical Engineering (Option B) and Corrosion Engineering (Option C). However, the degree awarded remains the same. Option A probes deeper into the area of Ceramics, Glasses, Polymers and Composites Materials. Option B lays more emphasis on Extractive Metallurgy and Production Metallurgy, while Option C dwells on Corrosion and Wear of Materials in Service and methods of Prevention, Monitoring and Control. To this end, the Department now offers many more specially designed undergraduate courses to meet with the very fast advances in the field of materials, some of which are service courses being offered to other Departments in the Faculty. All these are aimed at preparing the graduates of the Department for challenges in both research and development and the manufacturing industries.

OUR OBJECTIVES

The philosophy of the departmental programme is to expose students to the science and technology of materials, giving the students a sound theoretical background of the fundamentals and showing them the link between theory and practice by way of laboratory practicals, work-visits and industrial attachments. The programme is also geared towards meeting the needs of some relevant sectors of the nation's economy e.g. iron and steel, ceramic, and plastic industries, foundry and oil sector.

The main objectives of the programme are:

(i) To provide the necessary high level manpower for the nations metallurgical and materials

industries that are rapidly developing and expanding.

(ii) To produce materials engineers who are capable of effecting changes in imported technology to meet local needs through research and development.

(iii) To provide manpower for the development and sustenance of materials science and engineering programmes in the nation's institutions of higher learning.

(iv) To provide a solid academic base for the pursuit of higher degrees (M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D.)

(v) To identify the limitations of our students and to make a real effort to provide compensating corrective measures and

(vi) Make continuing reappraisal of our curriculum to ensure its consistency with the goal of training for national development, that the given parameters of time and financial outlay will permit.