University of Calabar (or popularly UNICAL) was an offshoot of University of Nigeria situated in Calabar in Cross River State in old Eastern Region of Nigeria.
It started functioning in 1973 under UNN, but stopped to exist as a campus of University of Nigeria in April 1975. The school was established after Federal Government announced that new universities would be established in some parts of the country.
The University is one of the foremost federal universities in that part of Nigeria. UNICAL occupies a 17-hectare site and in the heart of Calabar Municipal.
After the split from University of Nigeria, it started full academic activities in October 1976 with faculties of Science, Arts Science, and Social Science with just over 890 students.
The motto of the University is Knowledge for Service. Now the University can boast of 10 faculties, one Graduate School and three institutes and they include Agriculture, Arts, Allied Medical Sciences, Law, Management Science, Education, Social Sciences, Basic Medical Sciences, Institute of Education, Institute of Oceanography, Clinical Sciences, Consultancy Services, Graduate School, and Institute of Policy and Administrative Studies.
The school has seasoned lecturers who not only lay emphasis on academics but moulding the character of the students. And as a way of moulding the characters of students, the University came up with a Pro-Chancellor’s Prize for best behaved student in the graduating class of every year.
At University of Calabar, the male students are known as Malabites while the females are the Malabresses. It ranks amongst the best in the league of Nigeria’s Second Generation Universities. The current Vice Chancellor of the University is Professor James Epoke.
UNICAL Accreditation Status
As one of the oldest Universities in Nigeria, University of Calabar is fully accredited by Nigerian Government accreditation body, National Universities Commission.
Note that this Commission often visits Nigerian universities from time to time to assess the facilities they have on ground and check if these Nigerian universities meet certain standards required before certain programs are run by the University.
UNICAL Location
University of Calabar Address:
PMB 1115 Eta Agbo Road, Calabar, Cross River State.
Website: www.unical.edu.ng
Phone: +234 8173 740 083
UNICAL Undergraduate Courses
Courses offered at undergraduate level at University of Calabar are listed below under the various faculties in the University and they include:
AGRICULTURE: Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Extension, Animal Sciences, Fisheries and Wildlife Management, and Soil Science
ARTS: English and Literary Studies, French History and International Studies, Linguistics and Communication Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Theatre Arts.
EDUCATION: Adult Education, Agricultural science and Education, Education and Mathematics, Business Education, Education and English Language, Education and History, Education and Political Science, Education and Chemistry, education and Social Studies, Education and French, Education Foundation, Guidance and Counselling, Education and Social Science, Education and Economics, Education and Biology, Education and Geography, Education Arts, Educational Management and Planning, Elementary Education, Environmental Education, Library and Information Science, Special Education, Technology and Vocational Education, Education and Religious Studies, and Education and Physics.
LAW: Civil Law
MEDICAL SCIENCE: Human Anatomy, Medical Laboratory Science, Medicine and Surgery, Nursing and Nursing Science, Physiology, Public Health Technology, and Radiography.
SCIENCES: Applied Geophysics, Botany, Biochemistry, Computer Science, Electronics and Computer Technology, Genetics and Biotechnology, Mathematics/Statistics, Physics, Statistics, Geography, Environmental Science, and Zoology
MANAGEMENT SCIENCES: Accounting, Banking and Finance, Business Management, Marketing, Economics, Environmental Protection/Resources Management, Policy and Administrative Studies, Political Science, Sociology, Social Work, and Public Administration.
University of Calabar
UNICAL Hostels And Fees
University of Calabar, just like every other Nigerian university in its class, provides hostel accommodation for her students at a fee.
The application for hostel accommodation is done online at www.unicalstudentaffairs.com and students are given accommodation through balloting system. Those eligible for application are freshmen, final year and medical students. Always check the school website on www.unical.edu.ng for more information about fees in the University.
UNICAL Ranking
University of Calabar has been doing so well in making local and international rankings. The school often comes amongst top in these rankings regardless of the yardstick used.
For example, in July 2015, Journal Consortium carried out the ranking of universities in Nigeria and in Africa using universities research publication from 2010 to 2014 and visibility on the Internet. From their results released, university of Calabar came ninth in Nigeria and forty third in Africa.
Also in 2013, NUC released a least of top 50 universities in Nigeria and University of Calabar came in at number 28. So, the university has not done badly in major local and international rankings.
UNICAL Postgraduate Courses
University of Calabar offers wide array of postgraduate courses. UNICAL offers Post Graduate Courses in Graduate Diploma, Masters’ Degree (M.Sc.), and up to Doctor of Philosophy or Doctorate Degree (Ph.D) and are regulated by the University’s senate.
For now, some courses in PGD for Faculty of Medical Science faculty include Haematology, Chemical Pathology, and Medical Microbiology/Parasitology. Furthermore, for MSC degree in Medical Science Faculty include Epidermiology, Chemical Pathology, Health Service Management, Public Health, Environmental Health, and Medical Microbiology/Parasitology.
Finally for PHD in medical science faculty are Chemical Pathology and Public Health. All other faculties offer postgraduate courses in them.
You can visit the school portal for postgraduate information on www.unicalonline.edu.ng. Courses are offered full time or part time. Postgraduate Diploma lasts for one academic year, Master’s degree lasts for 2 years while Doctorate of Philosophy lasts for a minimum of 3 years.
Candidates are expected to have 3.00 on a scale of 5.00 and 2.75 on a scale of 4.00 before they are being considered for MSC programmes. Also, applicants must have 4.00 on the scale of 5-point and 3.00 on the scale of 4-point before they are considered for PHD programmes and with 60% in their course work. Candidates who wish to do a postgraduate programme at UNICAL are expected to pay non-refundable application fee of N20,000 only at approved banks released by the University for E-Scratch card purchase and visit www.unicalpg.org for online application.
UNICAL Grading System
Before now at UNICAL, the scale of 4.00 was being used but Grading System for NUC programmes is done on a scale of 5.00 now. The rundown is shown below:
First Class Division: (100 – 70 with 5.00 – 4.50 CGPA)
Second Class Upper Division: (69 – 60 with 4.49 – 3.50 CGPA)
Second Class Lower Division: (49 – 45 with 3.49 – 2.40 CGPA)
Third Class Division: (49 – 45 with 2.39 – 1.50).
UNICAL Admission Requirement
Undergraduate admission to University of Calabar requires that all interested candidates to sit for JAMB Post UTME after scoring 200 and above for those interested in Medicine/Surgery while others are expected t score 180 and above in UTME exams and making University of Calabar their first choice university.
All candidates must possess five (5) Credit Passes in NOT more than 2 sittings. The Post UTME exam is a computer based test and candidates are expected to pay the sum of N6,500 for the scratch card from designated banks announced by the University.
After the purchase of the scratch card, log on to http://unical.postutme.org and carefully follow the instructions.
Direct Entry candidates interested in the University are expected to apply through JAMB choosing any 3 programmes of their choice. Basic subjects candidates are expected to pass vary from department to department.
Admission to UNICAL is very competitive. For more information, visit the website on www.unical.edu.ng/pages/admissions/?nav=home
UNICAL Duration Of Studies
University of Calabar uses the standard of 6-3-3-4 system of education in Nigeria, which means undergraduates spend a minimum of 4 years in the course of doing a program in the University.
Also, all other courses offered at University of Calabar follow this schedule of 4 years, but there are variations in courses like Law (which requires 5 years or more), and Medicine and Surgery (6/7 years depending on nature of academic calendar).
UNICAL Transcripts
As part of continued efforts to serve alumni of the University better, University of Calabar designed an electronic platform where the alumni can place order for transcripts through their portal on alumni.unical.edu.ng/itranscript.
This method of requesting for transcript is known as iTranscript application. It enables all ordered transcripts to be sent electronically to the schools were they are needed. Ensure to carefully read the guidelines on the page before starting the process.
Using this method, alumni don’t have to visit the school and queue for their transcript as this makes the process of transcript application a lot easier and convenient for them. After carefully reading all the instructions on the page, click on Continue for the main page to load.
All payments must be made online. Click on Apply Here to lead you to a page where you will be required to fill out your details. Carefully input all the necessary information and then click on Save & Continue.
Ensure that all information given is accurate. Note that you can request for more than one transcript at a time. When you are done doing all that is required of you, use the Quit button to log out.
If you have already registered on the page before, all you need do on the second visit is to use your Matric number and log on to the page.
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