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Landmark University
Executive Advance
20th November, 2014
THE VISION AND MISSION OF
LANDMARK UNIVERSITY
Presented
By
Dr David O. Oyedepo
Chancellor, Landmark University
INTRODUCTION
• Johnny Enlow in his book, the Seven Mountain
Mantle, copyright 2009, speaking about the
New Seven Mountain Universities, said:
• “New universities will rise up almost
overnight. Most of these will be hosted by
major church ministries that will have
great latitude and freedom in instructing
people in the ways of the kingdom of God.
2
• These will be schools of the Holy
Spirit that will connect very
strongly with a rising generation
of world changers who will burn
with passion to see God made
famous in all of the earth.
3
• These universities will recruit,
equip, train and mobilize a
forthcoming army through the
grid and template of the seven
mountains. Many of them will be
so successful, so large, and so
prosperous that the world will
flock to them.
4
• The leaders of many future nations will
receive instruction in these universities,
and several will garner a worldwide
reputation in a very short time. These
will be new Harvards, Yales, and
Princetons, universities that were
initially founded on Christian principles
to train ministers – though the Lord will
yet offer these institutions a chance to
return to the original ideals of their
founders.
5
• As I am writing this, I am overtaken
with how wondrous and
revolutionary this will be. There is
great joy in the heart of God for
modelling the instruction of heaven
here on earth. As we do that, many
will come, many will see, and many
will put their trust in Him.”
6
• The book was published 7 years
after Covenant University was
established. There was no print nor
electronic contact with this author
but everything said here is virtually
quoting me verbatim on the place
Covenant University within the
context of university education and
by extension Landmark University.
7
• I could still remember saying that
Covenant University is going to
emerge new generation Harvard
within the shortest time. This was
stated on several fora in the
pioneering days of Covenant
University and within just 12 years
of existence, Covenant University
has been blazing the trail in
fulfillment of the prophetic word.
8
• We truly serve an awesome
God! What a confirmation
and what a validation of our
ministry’s education mandate.
To God be all the glory!!
9
THE VISION AND MISSION OF
LANDMARK UNIVERSITY
• Every great accomplishment begins
with a clear definition of vision, goals
and objectives.
• Knowing one’s destination is
foundational to undertaking any
meaningful adventure
• Because if one does not know where
he is going, anywhere may look like it
10
• Raising A Generation Of Solution
Providers Through A Qualitative And
Life-applicable Training System That
Focuses On Value And Creative
Knowledge
• Raising A New Generation Of Leaders
Through A Broad-based Qualitative
Education Built On Sound Biblical
Principles Culminating In The Birth Of
Breadwinners, Job Creators And World
Changers
11
• Raising An Army Of Reformers Who
Shall Redeem The Battered Image
Of The Black Race And Restore Her
Lost Glory As These Well-equipped
Graduates Begin To Build The Old
Waste, Repair The Wasted Cities
And Raise The Desolation Of Many
Generations”
12
This is why here at LANDMARK UNIVERSITY , we
are committed to:
• EXPLORING THE HIDDEN TREASURES IN THE
LAND
• UNCOVERING TREASURES IN THE MIDST OF
TRASH
• BUILDING A THINK-SOLUTION CENTRE
• EMPOWERING DESTINIES FOR MAXIMUM
IMPACT
• RAISING AN ARMY OF REFORMERS
• LANDMARK UNIVERSITY IS ENVISIONED TO BE:
13
• EMPOWERING DESTINIES FOR
MAXIMUM IMPACT
• RAISING AN ARMY OF REFORMERS
• LANDMARK UNIVERSITY IS
ENVISIONED TO BE:
• A LAND OF UNLIMITED
POSSIBILITIES OFFERING UNLIMITED
OPPORTUNITES, BREAKING NEW
GROUNDS.
14
HOW THEN DO WE REALIZE THESE
LAUDABLE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES?
• A sincere analysis of the trend of events
in this nation clearly points to the urgent
need for a paradigm shift in our
education system
• We must start thinking the unthinkable,
daring the undarable and confronting the
seemingly immovable if we must
surmount these ‘giant’ mountains all
around us.
15
• The vision of Landmark University is to
spearhead an agrarian revolution on this
continent
• A renowned USA Senator/Educationist, by
name, J. Williams Fulbright once said,
• “we must dare to think about ‘unthinkable
things’, because when things become
unthinkable, thinking stops and action
becomes mindless”, this underscores the core
values of ‘Possibility Mentality’ in Landmark
University.
16
The way forward
• We live in a thinkers world not in a titleholders world.
• Thinkers mould and shape the history of
the world
• Thinkers rule the world.
• For instance, the world of science is
moulded and ruled by thinkers.
17
ARCHIMEDES – 287 BC
• A giant, a scientist and mathematicians of
extraordinary greatness
• One of the biographers said; “Archimedes,
one man and one intellect – a host in itself”
• He discovered and arrived at the idea of
specific gravity today called Archimedes’
principle – while in a Bathtub.
18
• He thought years ago that man could
float on water, this thought came along
in the bathroom, the law of floatation
thereafter came to light.
• Today, the water ways has become a
major means of transportation for man
and more especially for goods and
services. Again, millions earn their living
through the water-way industry.
19
Joseph Priestly –1733-1854
• Became an orphan at age 7
• A minister and only a part-time scientist
• Attended some chemistry lectures; began to
experiment on his own and eventually became
well known among the local scientists
• An Inventor of Soda water who became a
giant of science through his discovery of the
gas of life – Carbon Dioxide
20
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier - 1743 - 1794
• He was a lawyer but while in college attended
chemistry lectures due to his interest in science
• At age 22 he was awarded a gold medal by the
French Academy of Sciences for his competition winning plan for lighting the street of Paris
• He pioneered in chemistry, physiology, scientific
agriculture, finance, economics, government and
public education!!!
21
Edward Jenner -1749 - 1823
• He was a medical doctor
• Between 1700 – 1800, it was estimated that
60 million Europeans died of smallpox.
• This once dread disease was wiped out by the
principle of vaccination that Jenner advanced.
• Was called “the father of immunology” and
his work is said to have “saved more lives than
the work of any other man”
22
Albert Einstein - 1879-1955
• He was a theoretical physicist who developed
the general theory of relativity effecting a
revolution in Physics
• He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics
for his discovery of the law of the
photoelectric effect
• Einstein applied the general theory of
relativity to model the structure of the
universe as a whole
23
• When he was invited to become President of
Israel he declined saying , “Scientific problems
are familiar to me, but I have neither the
natural capacity nor the necessary
experience to handle human beings”
• It was this same Einstein that invented
electric lighting bulb
• Someday some fellows called The Wright
Brothers, thought that man could fly in the air,
it was a thought that sprang up in the kitchen.
24
• Today, millions enjoy air
travels around the world,
while millions of other earn
their livelihood in the
aviation industry directly or
indirectly.
25
• A young man by name Isaac Newton,
while still an undergraduate was taking a
rest under an apple tree and one of the
apple fruits fell on him and then he
began to think why was it not suspended
in the air, and what kind of force was
pushing it down, to cut the long story
short, this young student founded the
law of gravity and subsequently the 3
laws of mechanics, which are very
fundamental to most engineering feats
today.
26
• At another time some ‘wild’ thinkers
thought that man could explore
other planets.
• Today, man has become a regular
visitor to the moon, plans are on the
way to commercialize flights for
tourists to the moon in an effort to
satisfy man’s crave and affection for
nature and its splendor.
27
• The most recent of my illustration in this
regard is the living legend by name Bill
Gates.
• The findings of Bill Gates has redefined
the face of education globally and
accelerated the speed of learning,
particularly through the internet.
• Bill Gates the thinker has suddenly as it
were become Bill Gates the ruler of the
scientific world.
28
Today, we have
• Lots of educated folks, but few thinkers.
• Too many Workers, very few thinkers
• Too many teachers, like they say ‘talk is
cheap’ but obviously few thinkers
• Countless Dreamers, but very very few
thinkers
• I believe that Self esteem is essentially a
product of self discovery and self
awareness.
29
• For instance, all human beings are made up of
same number of organs.
• That is, all organs of the human body, the
lungs, the heart, the liver, the kidney, and of
course the brain; all the organs that make up
human beings are all the same in size and
content.
• That is the reason why all transplantable
organs are transplantable from one to another
irrespective of race or colour such as the
kidney .
30
• Most importantly of course is the
human brain, which defines the
limits of a man’s worth in any
field of human endeavour.
• It is absolutely the same in all
ramification and that for all men.
31
It is interesting to note that the human brain for
all human is:
Same size
Same content
Same number of cells
Same number of nerves running through
Same colour
Same weight
Same potential, which implies
Same capacity
32
Where then is the Difference?
• It is in the robustness of the engagement of
the brain.
• It is the active engagement of this ‘principal
gift’ of nature that defines the limits of
anyone’s worth.
• First, we must recognize that we share same
capacity of brain with all other humans and
that consciousness should arouse the
confidence in us to engage this precious gift
most pragmatically.
33
• The story was told of one Albert Einstein;
how that he was a very poor boy in
school and that one day the teacher had
to invite the mother. And in the course of
speaking with her on his poor
performance, the teacher made a sharp
remark ‘your son has got no brain’ his
mother reacted violently ‘my son has got
more brain than you’ve got.’ This was
the first time it dawned on Albert that
he’s got some brain.
34
• Today, Albert Einstein occupies a
prestigious place in the history of
scientific development with the invention
of the electric bulb among others.
• As Dennis Waitley once said “the
empires of the future will not be built of
concrete stone walls, turrets, armies and
gates. The empires of the future will be
empires of the mind.”
• We have to think our way out or we sink
all the way through
35
• Africa must wake up to the fact that
we have got enough brain to match
our seemingly insurmountable
mountains.
• This implies that how actively and
productively we engage our minds in
seeking solution to the challenges of
our time will determine how soon
we overcome them whether as
individuals or as nations.
36
• The only empire that will survive in the
21st century will be the empires we build
with our own minds.
• Today, the whole world is being
threatened by a global economic
collapse! And what we need in my view is
‘Intellectual Bail out’.
• In the word Ayn Rand “wealth is the
product of man’s capacity to think”.
37
A Need for Radical Curriculum Review
• It is interesting to note that most
scientific inventors were only
committed and resourceful thinkers.
• All technical facts that characterized
scientific inventions are by products
of focused and resourceful thinking.
38
• Michael Faraday, who had little or no
formal education as it were but a
committed reader and an unusual
thinker, became a world acclaimed
scientist.
• Benjamin Franklin, a ‘bookworm’ who
virtually taught himself to read because
he had only a two-year formal education,
grew to become one of America’s
foremost philosopher, a Diplomat and a
Research Scientist.
39
• He also founded the University of
Pennsylvania, which is still
currently ranked number 15 in
the league of world leading
Universities.
• It is clear that most outstanding
scientists of all ages are only –
committed and addicted thinkers.
40
• Show me a committed thinker and I
will show you another
inventor/solution-provider in the
making.
• I therefore, believe that the existing
regimented training programme of
our University system is long overdue
for a review, this is the role that
Landmark University is out to play.
41
• Our mission is to promote the
relevance of University education to
the society.
• Our mission is to promote the
mental dignity of the human race
particularly the Africans who have
largely lost their intellectual bravery
to colonial entanglements.
42
• As Delayo Adadevoh put it “Africa
today is n eagle that is yet to soar.
She needs to tell herself she is an
eagle which belongs to the sky. Every
imagination that places Africa in a
lower category in relation to other
people shall be replaced with new
thoughts that see Africa in the centre
stage in global development.”
43
• The greatest challenge to Africa’s
development is the underdeveloped
mind of Africans.
• African minds should be transformed into
new minds that can dream a new Africa
into existence.
• The time to rethink is now.
• The time for new resolve is now.
• The time for action is now.
44
Our Core Values
• The platform of the
implementation of our Vision and
Mission is our core values. Our
Core Values are the nuggets of
the creed that define us as a
University. They are:
45
Spirituality
• Here at Landmark University we consider
spirituality as an asset of inestimable
value. And according to scriptures;
Spirituality is profitable to all things,
having the promise of life that now is and
of that which is to come. Furthermore,
the bible says, to be carnally minded is
death; but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace. (1Tim 4:7-8/ Rom 8:6)
46
• And As I have often said, it is foolishness
to be shameful of what is gainful.
• Here at Landmark University, we show
our students the way to the saving
knowledge of Christ, teach them to know
God, love God and serve God; and what a
transformational experience it has been
for most of them.
47
Possibility Mentality
• Possibility mentality is all about the
confidence to create solutions to our
unwanted situations. Here at Landmark
University, we are committed to raising
‘possibiliterians’ - people who can see
a future in their future because we live
in a world of unlimited opportunities
48
Capacity Building
• Capacity here connotes skill
development. It is a known fact that, skill
is a vital factor for success. But this is a
most elastic endeavour as there can be
no end to development of skill in the
pursuit of any given task.
• Our mission is to inculcate an untiring
quest for capacity building, enhancement
of professional capabilities and personal
development into our students.
49
Integrity
• Corruption has become a
cankerworm in the world today.
Integrity here connotes a lifestyle of
faithfulness, accountability and
probity. We believe that impactful
leadership is built on two pillars of
Integrity and Capacity.
50
• Whatever feat capacity may
accomplish, it takes integrity to
preserve it. For instance, here at
Landmark University, examination
malpractice is a capital offence
and every victim automatically
looses his/her place in the
university.
51
Responsibility
• We inculcate a sense of responsibility to
our students. We expect them to
respond to issues as demanded not as
convenient. We believe in the place of
discipline for effective leadership. Our
students are not permitted to do what
they like but what is right at all times, as
enumerated in the students’ handbook.
52
Diligence
• Nothing enhances worth like work. Every
high flyer is known to be a hard worker.
You cannot eat your cake and have it.
You cannot make omelette without
breaking eggs. This is why hard work is
one of our celebrated core values. A
man that is diligent in his business he
shall stand before kings, shall not stand
before mean men.
53
Sacrifice
• Every great leader of all time has a story
rooted in sacrifice. Sacrifice is the
ultimate price for all pathfinders. It is
quality sacrifice that defines great
leadership. As no one can get out of life
more than what he is willing to put into
it. There are no stars without scars and
the scar of every star is sacrifice.
54
CHANGE: Our Capital Philosophy
• Resistance to change is universal; it seizes every
generation by the throat and attempts to stop
all of its forward movement.
• Resistance to change is the worst enemy of
advancement.
• Many well-educated people, after being
confronted with the Truth, have been unwilling
to change their minds. Why? Because they
have been trapped by tradition.
55
• For example, Aristotle said that the
heavier an object, the faster it falls to
the earth. He was regarded as the
greatest thinker of all times and surely,
he could not be wrong.
• However in 1789, Galileo, about 200
years later, with someone landed
professors, went to the base of leaning
tower of Pisa, ascended to the top and
pushed two weights, one ten pounds
and the other one pound.
56
• Both landed at the same time,
but the power of belief in the
conventional wisdom was so
strong that the professors
denied what they had seen.
They continued to say Aristotle
was right.
57
• Again with his telescope, Galileo
proved the theory of Copernicusthat the earth was not the center of
the universe and that the universe
revolved around the sun. Yet when
he tried to change people’s mind or
people’s beliefs, he was thrown into
prison and spent the rest of his life
under house arrest.
58
• Tradition is the worst enemy of
development and advancement.
• Someone once said, “Until you
are willing to lose site of the
shore, you cannot discover new
islands.”
59
OURS IS PHILOSOPHY OF CHANGE
• Landmark University is built on a strong
philosophy of ‘change’;
• ‘Change’ is the capital philosophy of this
University
• A departure from the traditions of
learning into the dynamics of discovery.
60
• We also recall that in the wake of
the charismatic movement, when
healing ministry broke out, many
were arrested and many were jailed
for “practicing medicine without a
license”. That is the power of
tradition.
61
• It was this demand that led to the
grafting of the founding philosophy
of Landmark University, which in
the main, emphasizes a needed
departure from the tradition of
schooling to dynamics of learning
and living as stated in our founding
ethos –
62
• A departure from 'Form' to 'Skill’
• A departure from 'knowledge' to
'empowerment’
• A departure from 'figures' to 'futurebuilding’
• A departure from 'legalism' to 'realism’
• A departure from 'points' to 'facts’
• A departure from 'mathe-matics' to 'lifematics'.
63
Think of the following:
• Black people built the 1st
civilization. We all agree that
Black people built the pyramids
of Egypt with archaeological
discoveries and mammies that
dates back over 3000 BC.
64
• Black people first developed
Architecture, Geometry and Astrology.
• Charles Brooke invented the Street
sweeping machine
• Frederic Jones
invented the
Refrigeration System
• Garett Morgan invented the Traffic Light
and the gas mask
• Charles Drew invented the Blood Bank.
65
• Our untold story is what makes us look
like a people without history.
• No one will tell our stories for us. Just
like no company commits itself to selling
the goods of a competing company; that
will be an anathema.
• Only men who can think the unthinkable,
can dare the undarable and move the
immovable.
66
Daring the Undarable
• Only the brave ever become great.
• It is bravery that begets greatness.
• It is not just a dreamers’ world anymore it is
the darers’ world.
• It was Hillary Edmond, the first man to
conquer Mount Everest who said, “It is not the
mountain we conquer, but ourselves.
• Bravery is the cure for slavery.
67
• We need intellectual bravery today in
our universities in Africa if we must
attain to relevance.
• The intellectual machine of our
nations must begin to respond to the
changes demanded or it remains
irrelevant.
• No institution can maintain relevance
operating on obsolete curriculum.
68
IN CONCLUSSION
• There is nothing unthinkable until we think so
and there is nothing undarable until it is
dubbed unthinkable and there is nothing
immovable until it is dubbed impossible.
• I came across the following scientific assertion
sometime ago which claims that: “only 10% of
humans think,
 25% think that they think and
 65% would rather die than think
69
• Until we start to think about
the unthinkable we may never
dare the impossible and may
never be able to move the
seemingly immovable.
70
• This is a wake up call to all of us here
at Landmark University - our
traditional curriculum in this part of
the world is long over is long overdue
for massive reviews and we must rise
up to the challenge of repackaging our
programmes as deemed relevant for
the demands of the hour, otherwise
this university system will loose its
relevance irredeemably.
71
According to Scriptures;
“Much food is in the tillage of
the poor: but there is that is
destroyed for want of
judgment”- Pro13:23
72
Thank you
And
God bless
73