Nigerian, Chinelo Emelife graduates best at Indian university | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
18th March 2019
A 28-year-old student from Nigeria, Stella Chinelo Emelife has graduated best at an Indian university after she swept 20 gold medals and five cash prizes.
That is the highest in the 102-year history of the University of Mysore (UoM), which did its 99th convocation on Sunday, 17th March, 2019.
Ms Emelife from Anambra State in South East Nigeria said she owed her success to her parents, teachers and fellow-students.
She said the competitive academic environment in India helped her push the boundaries during her stay.
recalls that Ms Emelife had earlier emerged in the 2012/2013 Academic Session as the best graduating student at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto with a 4.86 Cummulative Grade Point Average (CGPA).
She had all her earlier education in Sokoto, North West Nigeria, where her parents live and had always topped classes from primary school.
Her journey to the UoM was through an Indian government scholarship she won in 2016 to complete a Masters degree.
She was quoted by the Times of India as saying that she was able to achieve this new feat through the library and the help of professors at UoM.
“When I came to India in 2016 after my graduation in general chemistry in Nigeria, I discovered that the academic climate, especially for chemistry, in Mysuru was challenging.
“I opted for applied chemistry here. I spent most time in the university library and interacted with professors, improving the quality of my research. I needed a good grade to compete with others in the world,” Emelife said.
She secured 92.6% marks, and is now focused on research that addresses health-related issues back home.
She is said to be keeping options on higher studies – including a doctorate – open and might continue in Mysuru or consider advanced schools in the UK, the US or her home country.
Assistant professor MP Sadashiva said Emelife was “studious and disciplined”, and had extensively corresponded with him before signing up for the course.
Emelife said the Department of Chemistry could do better, giving students more exposure to lab teaching and equipping them to face industry challenges.