The University of Liberia, established 1862 to provide leadership and expertise for newly independent Liberia, a 15 years old country that was born 1847, seems to be walking in the dark as opposed to beaming light in darkness, if the buildings on the main campus of the University is anything to go by.
To be fair to the University, from its inception, it produced topnotch graduates as per its original mandate and was the envy of the continent. Degrees from the University of Liberia were not only accepted around the world, but its graduates were also competitive globally and sought after.
Today however, especially post 2003 when the 14years civil war ended, the University of Liberia leaves much to be desired in terms of quality of graduates. Besides, it is besieged with myriad of problems including overcrowding, lack of quality lecturers, library, science and computer labs, obsolete manual registration process, amongst others.
To better appreciate the current sorry state of the University’s, one needs to just to look at the buildings on its main campus on Capitol Hill. The same old buildings since the 1960s with the exception of an occasional painting now and then.
With such crisis facing the University, some are beginning to wonder if it is still that “Light in Darkness” in line with its motto, or is it now `itself “in darkness looking for light”? Well only time will tell. But one thing is certain, Liberia needs its “Ivory Tower” more than ever before if the country must move forward.