The Obafemi Awolowo University Stars Committee met with the selected Mentors at the College of Health Sciences Boardroom to discuss the Obafemi Awolowo University Stars programme. The meeting held on the 18^th of December 2023 at 2 pm. This was the first of many meetings to be helf with the mentors as the Obafemi Awolowo University Stars program grow over the next several years.

Earlier in the year, in June, Obafemi Awolowo University celebrated academic and research excellence wherein the best undergraduate and postgraduate students with the highest GPA in all the departments in the University were recognized and honoured. The students were identified for each academic level. These 244 students are to as OAU Stars.

In addition, the University gave an Award of Academic and Research Excellence to Prof. Anthony Adegbulugbe. Prof Adegbulugbe is the first recipient of the Research Excellence Award of the University. He made this highly prestigious nomination as the first alumnus of the university to graduate with a GPA score of 5.0. He his saddled with the responsibility of mentoring the 244 students.

Prof. Adegbulugbe designed the mentorship programme under the aegis of The Best Undergraduate & Graduate Star Research Opportunity Programme (BUSROP). BUSROP aims to foster interdisciplinary problem-solving analysis among undergraduates, graduates, and postgraduate students, by encouraging research in areas that involve human development, arts, science, and innovation.

The 244 Stars were groups into 45 interdisciplinary teams of a minimum of 5 persons each. Each team and their mentor will develop socially responsive research protocol that will be presented for review. The ten most promising research will be picked from the proposals submitted. Thereafter, the 10 projects would receive a grant for the implementation of their project. The topmost project will then be funded further to become a start-up project.

Faculty mentors asked questions clarifying their roles and made suggestions on effective approaches to the mentorship programme. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research Innovation and Development, Prof. Akanni Akinyemi, The Obafemi Awolowo University Stars Committee Chair, Prof Aderonmu, the Director, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office (IPTTO), Prof. Grace Ogunlusi and the Executive Director, Central Office of Research, Prof. Morenike Ukpong clarified questions and committed to continued engagement with the mentors throughout the project. The plan is to expand this process to support all teams to move their concepts to implementation through other channels.

The next Academic and Research Excellence Award is scheduled to hold in July 2024. In addition, the university shall also be awarding Entrepreneurship Excellence Award.