Established in 1948, the Department of English is one of the oldest Departments in the Faculty of Arts and, indeed, the University. Initially, English was taught as a subject in the General Degree Programme of the University of London with which the University College Ibadan (UCI) had a special relationship. It was one of the most heavily subscribed subjects and the majority of the B.A.(General) Arts graduates of this University had to pass through the corridors of this Department. The Honours degree programme in English was introduced in 1952. Ever since its inception, the programme has produced some of the most outstanding men of letters in the country today. 

When the University College attained autonomous status in 1962, new degree options were introduced. This new development made it possible to combine English with other approved arts subjects in what was then the Combined Honours School, or to study English as a major/minor teaching subject in a new Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) programme in the Faculty of Education.

One important achievement of the English Department and, perhaps, its more significant contribution to the growth of the University as a whole has been its role in nurturing units that were later to develop into full-grown disciplinary programmes. This was possible largely because of the quality of training and staff development and recruitment patterns that have guided manpower development and projections in the Department since its inception in 1948.

From the sub-department of Phonetics was to emerge the now equally famous and virile Department of Linguistics and African Languages. Following a similar binary split, the drama component of the literature programme was excised and nurtured into a separate school of Drama which subsequently metamorphosed into the present Department of Theatre Arts. Similarly, from the modest one-room unit of the then Language Centre (which staff of the department helped to nurture) there emerged, in the seventies, the Department of Language Arts which was later renamed the Department of Communication and Language Arts. Surprisingly, these successive excisions did not at any stage jeopardize the integrity of the parent department. Rather, the Department of English has continued to grow both in size and student population, and has maintained its leadership position in literary studies on the African continent.

The Department has also contributed significantly to higher education in Nigeria and, indeed, Sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa through its pioneering role in promoting postgraduate studies in English. Its rigorous postgraduate training programme has helped to provide the much needed staff in the discipline for practically every new university established in Nigeria in the mid-1970s and after. Since the inception of formal postgraduate studies in the 1960s, the Department has produced many MAs, M.Phils. and Ph.Ds. 

Vision
In tandem with the University human capacity project, the Department of English has always been an institutional beacon for the development of the intellect and the refinement of character. Clearly, and humbly so, it is our desire to uphold the great academic tradition which has been associated with the Department of English. To make this possible, we must resolve to re-build the confidence of learning and leadership in the generality of the students and staff of the department. Indeed, it is to the honour of scholarship for us to put the interests of students at the centre of curriculum work, in language, linguistics, literary and cultural studies. 

Mission
For convenience of relating practically with the vision for the progress of the department, we have couched the main items and programmes for action and development in the acronym – STRIDE – with each initial alphabet standing for a pair of the specific idea: 
S - Support and Socialise;
T - Teach and Train; 
R - Research and Recharge; 
I - Imagine and Induct; 
D - Dream and Demonstrate; and 
E - Express and Excite. 
Following this acronym, and in no order of importance, we will crave the support of administration in making teaching, training and research as imaginative as ever, so that our dreams as true humanists, illuminators, and thinkers are potentially expressed in our immediate environment and beyond. Under the respective sub-headings below, we want to highlight a number of action-programmes for attention, collaboration and execution, not only by a single person, or by a single group within the department, but a column of programmes and other ideas doable by all, for the progress of the individual and of the collective. Indeed, the under-listed serve as the main stakes of direction and guidance; they are not exhaustive of what is possible. 

Philosophy
The Department is guided by the principle of objective and sound scholarship, rooted in integrity, for the advancement of standards as well as creative use of the English language as an international medium of expression.   

Objectives 
a)  To uphold the great academic tradition of the University 
b)  To re-build the confidence of learning and leadership in the generality of the students and staff of the department. 
c)  To put the interests of students at the centre of curriculum work. 
d)  To make teaching, training and research as imaginative as ever