Welcome To Our Department

You are welcome to the Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife unarguably the largest Department of English in Nigeria. The Department was one of the pioneer departments that commenced operations with the University of Ife when it took off in 1962. It was among the departments that started with the University at its temporary site, which is now the main campus of The Polytechnic, Ibadan. It later moved with the University in 1966, to its present location. When the Department started in 1962, it was designed to cater for conventional English Studies, English Literature and English Linguistics. However, in 1978, it was re-organised.

From it emerged three departments: Language Arts, Literature-in-English, and Linguistics. While the Department of Language Arts was saddled with English Studies, excluding Literature-in-English, The Department of Linguistics was concerned with all aspects of linguistics. In 1980, the Department of Language Arts was reorganised as Department of English Language.

Another milestone in the evolution of the University was achieved in 1989, when the Department of English Language, Linguistics, and Literature-in-English were merged to form the present Department of English to produce a larger, more enduring Department of English which has survived up till today. And since then, the Department has increased in leaps and bounds to be one of the largest more diverse Departments of English in Nigeria with the establishment number of over 60 academic staff.