History

History

The Faculty of Arts was the first of the three foundation Faculties in the University of Ilorin when it formally took off in October 1975. At inception, the Faculty had four Departments with a population of fifty five students and sixteen academic staff. These Departments were English (later renamed Modern European Languages and with the addition of French programme), History, (later enlarged and renamed History and International Studies), Arabic and Islamic Studies (later expanded and renamed as Religions), and Linguistics and Nigerian Languages. A fifth Department, the Performing Arts, was added in 1981/82 session. The splitting of Departments of Religions into Religions and Arabic Departments and Modern European Languages into Departments of English and French was approved by Senate in 2003. Consequently, the Faculty now has seven Departments offering 12 programmes with a total student population of over five thousand and – academic staff. The Faculty also accommodates four centres namely: Institute of Translation Arts, Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies (CPSS), Linguistic Immersion and Centre for Cultural Studies. The centres are under Directors appointed by the Vice-Chancellor.
The non-teaching staff members are in population. The Faculty is located between the Faculty and faculty of Social Sciences in an edifice Faculty of Arts building, a four storeyed building with many offices that accommodate both academic and non-teaching staff of the Faculty. The Faculty also has a Professorial Building in the former Faculty of Arts arena. The Faculty has a block of eight classrooms, and to assuage the challenges of accommodating large classes, two lecture theatres (ALT and ALH) were built. Each of the two halls has capacity for 500 students with toilet facilities among others. The Faculty has a modern boardroom very close to the Faculty building for meetings and seminars. The Dean’s Committee’s room is on fourth floor very close to the Dean’s office, with the offices of the Faculty Officer, Faculty Accountant, the Faculty counsellor’s office is in the second floor, while the Porter and Security posts are situated at the entrance of the Faculty. The Faculty erects canopies at the parking space for HODs and neatly drawn spaces for staffers of the Faculty.