Yaba College of Technology, Yaba

Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) is a federal college of technology in Yaba, Lagos Mainland, and the first higher institution of its kind in Nigeria. It began as Yaba Technical Institute, which opened day and evening classes in October 1947 and took over the activities of Yaba Higher College. Its stated vision is to be the leading higher educational institution in Africa, offering academic, professional and entrepreneurial education; its mission is to produce knowledgeable and innovative graduates through teaching, learning and research for technological advancement.

Academic work is organised into eight schools and thirty-four academic departments with seventy accredited programmes at National Diploma (ND), Higher National Diploma (HND) and Post-HND levels, together with online and certificate courses. The schools are Art, Design and Printing; Engineering; Environmental Studies; Liberal Studies; Management and Business Studies; Science; Technical Education; and Technology. Degree programmes (B.Sc.(Ed) in Technical and Vocational Education), a postgraduate diploma in Engineering and in Urban and Regional Planning, online and top-up programmes are run in conjunction with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the Federal University of Technology, Akure, and the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti.

The main campus is on Herbert Macaulay Road, Yaba, and a second campus at Epe houses the Michael Otedola Information and Communication Centre, the School of Technical Education and the departments of Agricultural Technology, Agricultural and Bio-Environmental Engineering, and Leisure and Tourism. Campus facilities include the college library and school libraries (combined seating for 1,740 readers), a Medical Centre, a sports complex at the centre of the campus, the Folorunsho Alakija Skills Acquisition Centre, the Central Research Laboratory and YCT Radio 89.3 FM, which serves as a training ground for Mass Communication students.

Student life is coordinated by the Students' Affairs unit, headed by a Dean, with welfare (halls of residence, clubs, societies, hygienic feeding and NYSC mobilisation of graduating full-time HND students), counselling and sports departments. The college has won the Nigeria Polytechnic Games Association competitions five times out of sixteen editions. All students take compulsory courses from the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, created in 2003, and SIWES placements link students with employers in Lagos. The Centre for Open, Distance and Flexible e-Learning (CODFeL) offers flexible and online study.

The college is a federal institution whose programmes are accredited by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE); the B.Sc.(Ed) programme is approved and accredited by the National Universities Commission. It operates under the Yaba College of Technology Decree of 1969, which gave it autonomy. The college is headed by a Rector, Dr (Engr.) Ibraheem Adedotun Abdul, who assumed duty on 16 May 2023.