Since this University was established in 1962 as one of the first generation Universities, it has come to be acknowledged as Nigeria’s leading University in research and Innovation. The Faculty of Environmental Design and Management is a major participant in this drive to be at the cutting edge of research and innovation, with its staff publishing ground breaking research in reputable journals all over the world. The faculty started as a Programme and Sub-Department in 1970 under the Department of Economics of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the then University of Ife (Now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife). It was later transferred as a Department, in 1977, to the Faculty of Technology. The Department of Estate Management, as a constituent, but expanded, Department of Environmental Planning, Design and Management became a full-fledged Faculty (the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management) in 1981, embracing related disciplines as Quantity Surveying, Architecture, Building, Urban & Regional Planning and more recently Fine & Applied Arts and Surveying & Geoinformatics.

Since becoming fully operational, the Faculty has been carrying out important teaching, research, consultancy activities and organizing seminars, conferences and workshops in the area of design, construction, management and operation of buildings and infrastructure. It is no wonder that the faculty has produced several of the foremost built environment professionals who are making waves in Nigeria as presently demanded by an increasingly sophisticated society and clientele. The faculty’s has produced two of the Emeritus Professors of the University, two Chairmen of the Committee of Deans and the current Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Professor Mrs. Bola Babalola. The Faculty academic staff have been representing the faculty quite well across the whole world.