Alltimepost.com Sincerity of Purpose
Professor Cyrille Ngamen Kouassi, a leading academic voice at Glorious Vision University in Nigeria, has called on university administrators across Africa to fundamentally rethink and reshape the mindset of the continent’s next generation of intellectuals, urging a decisive return to integrity and excellence in higher education.
Delivering a compelling lecture at the Fourth Matriculation Ceremony of the Edo State College of Education for students of the 2025/2026 academic session, on Thursday, April 9, 2026, Prof. Kouassi spoke on the theme “Integrity and Academic Excellence,” framing it as a matter of urgency for Africa’s future.
He did not mince words – Africa’s path forward, he argued, depends on the urgent recultivation of seriousness in education, even as institutions confront mounting challenges and systemic failures.
At the heart of this transformation, he noted lies the courage of university administrators to instill a new orientation in emerging scholars, often celebrated as the continent’s future leaders.
“Integrity is the practice of doing the right thing at all times,” he stated, defining academic excellence as not merely high grades, but the mastery of knowledge and the demonstration of critical thinking. Both, he emphasized, are inseparable pillars of meaningful educational achievement.
Yet, in a moment of stark reflection, the professor raised troubling questions about the state of higher education across Africa:
Do integrity and academic excellence still matter? Are they truly practiced in Nigeria’s universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education? And if not, what must be done to restore them?
His suspicion was clear — and unsettling.
If integrity has been eroded, he warned, the consequences for society could be profound.
Describing integrity as unwavering adherence to ethical and moral principles, Prof. Kouassi highlighted honesty, responsibility, and accountability as its core elements. A person of integrity, he explained, is one who consistently chooses what is right, guided by ethics and morality.
He further outlined the defining traits of integrity — honesty, respect, grace, hard work, responsibility, accountability, and patience — stressing that these values provide societies with moral clarity and direction.
In academic environments, he said, integrity is not optional — it is foundational.
“Academic integrity is the cornerstone of excellence in higher education,” he declared, noting that for many individuals, their earliest structured encounter with integrity occurs within the school system. From policies on originality and anti-cheating to expectations of student conduct, academic institutions play a decisive role in shaping ethical behavior.
In conclusion, the scholar warned that any society that tolerates unethical shortcuts within its workforce risks undermining its own economic and technological progress, while simultaneously endangering public safety.
“A sane and responsible society,” he asserted, “must ensure that all educational institutions uphold the principles of honesty, responsibility, accountability, and courage; an educational institution devoid of integrity and academic excellence could be likened to a terminal social disease”.
The message was unmistakable: without integrity, excellence is hollow — and without both, the future of African education hangs in the balance.
