Motto: A Key to Academic Success

Brief Histroy: The great education experience that is now Babcock University (BU) has its roots in the Adventist College of West Africa (ACWA), established on September 17, 1959 with an initial intake of seven ministerial students. The University is fully owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church, and registered under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to operate as a private University and, as such, does not receive any government grants. As a senior College, the first set of Bachelor of Arts degrees in Theology were awarded under its own name in 1966. ACWA made history in 1975 by becoming the premier institution to sign and operate an affiliation agreement with Andrews University, Berrien Springs Michigan, USA. This relationship enabled it to train students and award Bachelors degrees from Andrews University, primarily in Biology, Business Administration, Theology, and Religion with minors in Biblical Languages, Biology, Business Administration, History, Religion and Secretarial Studies. Also, in 1975, the name Adventist Seminary of West Africa (ASWA), was adopted in response to the dynamics of its socio-political environment. The four B.A. programs were run until 1983 when restricting local factors necessitated the phasing out of the B.A. programs in Biology and Business Administration. In 1988, ASWA reached the second milestone in its academic history in an affiliation agreement with the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary of Andrews University which authorized the college to offer the M.A. in Pastoral Ministry (by extension). The M.A. Religion program was later added in 1990. Both programs were upgraded from part-time to resident status in 1992 but later reverted to summer sessions again in 1997 due to the unsuccessful search for qualified full-time teaching staff. A stop-gap measure was meanwhile taken to afford national recognition for its status and programs by way of the institution’s request for a local Affiliation agreement with the University of Ibadan (UI) under the name “Babcock College”. The request was still clearing the tedious hurdles of UI administrative process when BU got its own accreditation on April 20, 1999.