Prof. Dr. Abdalla Uba Adamu

http://www.auadamu.com
Professor of Media and Cultural Communication
Professor of Science Education and Curriculum Development
Former Vice-Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN, 2016-2021)
European Union Visiting Professor, University of Warsaw, Poland (2012)
Rockefeller Resident Fellow, Bellagio Study Center, Italy (1993)
Fulbright Senior African Research Scholar (UC Berkely, 1991-1992)
B.Sc. (ABU, 1979), M.A. (Lond, 1983), D.Phil. (Sussex, 1988)
Department of Information and Media Studies
Faculty of Communication
Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria

 

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Summary
Prof. Dr. Abdalla Uba Adamu, holds double professorships in Science Education (1997) and Media and Cultural Communication (2012) from Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. His main research focus is on transnational media flows and their impact on the transformation of Muslim Hausa popular culture especially in literature, film, music and performing arts. He has developed courses on digital cultures and promotes netnography as a research methodology in documenting Hausa online media ethnographies. He is the Chairman of a research cluster based in Bayero University Kano that explores the applications Visual Anthropology in research. He is the Chairman of Visually Ethnographic Networks, Institute of Islamic Calligraphy and Geometric Designs, and Innovative Educational Synergy Consultants, all based in Kano, Nigeria. 

Prof. Adamu served as a Fulbright African Senior Research Scholar, and had his residency at the Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California, Berkeley, from 1991-1992. This led to his first major book, Reform and Adaptation in Nigerian University Curricula, 1960-1992: Living on the Credit Line (Edwin Mellen Press, 1994). He was also awarded a place on the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Resident Fellows program at the Bellagio Study Center , Bellagio, Italy, October to November 1993.

In October 2015 Prof Adamu was invited to teach four courses at the Rutgers State University New Jersey as a visiting professor. Earlier, in August 2015, he was the guest speaker at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany where he discussed youth, popular culture and insurgency in northern Nigeria. From Berlin he proceeded to University of Hamburg where he made a special presentation on using consumer digital media technologies in preservation of unique African Arabic manuscripts. In 2013 he was again in Berlin attending the retirement conference of Prof. dr.  Heike Behrend. The conference, whose theme was Testing and Contesting Regimes of Visibility, was organized by colleagues and students of Prof. Behrend who retired from the University of Cologne.

In 2012 he was appointed European Union Visiting Professor for the project ‘The Modern University’ at the Department of African Languages and Cultures, University of Warsaw , Poland from 1st March to 31st May 2012. At Warsaw, he taught two highly popular courses: Transnationalism and African Popular Culture, and Oral Traditions in Local and Global Contexts. He also coordinated a research collaboration, ‘Passages of Culture’ between German and African Universities sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation from 2009-2013, based at the University of Basel, Switzerland. 

Over the years, he served as Visiting Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; University of Florida, Gainesville, the State University of New Jersey, Columbia University New York, University of Basel, Freie Universität Berlin, Universität Hamburg, Universität zu Köln,  Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and the Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. He has served as an external examiner at Andra University, Andra Pradesh India, University of Warsaw in Poland, University of Humboldt and University Cologne.

From 2016-2021 he was the Vice-Chancellor (President) of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), the only single-mode online university in Nigeria. 


 

Professional Details

Academic Qualifications

   

D.Phil., Sussex University, Falmer, Brighton, England

1988

 

M.A. (Science Education), Chelsea College, University of London

1983

 

Postgraduate Diploma in Science Education, Chelsea College University of London

1982

 

B.Sc. (Education/Biology/Physiology), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

1979

 
   

Working Experience Since First Graduation

 

Visiting Sabbatical Professor of Mass Communication, Kaduna State University (KASU)

2021

Visiting Professor, Humboldt University, Germany

2019

Visiting Professor, Rutgers State University, New Jersey, United States

2015

Visiting Professor, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States

2010

Professor of Media and Cultural Communication

2012

Visiting Professor, University of Warsaw, Poland

2012

Visiting Professor, University of Cologne, Germany

2004

Professor of Science Education and Curriculum Studies

1997

Associate Professor in Science Education and International Comparative Higher Education

1994

Senior Lecturer, Science Education

1991-1993

Lecturer I, Science Education

1988-1991

Lecturer II, Science Education

1984-1988

Assistant Lecturer, Science Education

1981-1984

Graduate Assistant, Science Education

1980-1981

Biology and Agricultural Science Teacher, Ekwerazu Girls Secondary School, Umoarkrika

1979-1980