Nigerians seek Higher Education abroad

Tuesday 11th, December 2012 / 12:25 Written by

 

With his graduation in pharamacy at the Ternopil State Medical University in Ukraine Nigerian pop star Mayor Boss is just one prominent example of expatriate students. ©  Naijamayor.com

With his pharamacy degree from the Ternopil State Medical University (Ukraine), pop star Mayor Boss is just one prominent example of Nigeria’s increasing number of expatriate students. © Naijamayor.com

A report reveals the exodus of academics and university aspirants from Nigeria. With about 500 Million US-Dollars per year, expenditure on education abroad has exceeded homeland investments.

The Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigeria (CVC) has issued a communiqué on the decreasing appreciation of Higher Education in the Western African country. The report states that Nigerians spend about 500 million US-Dollars annually on education at foreign universities.

According to the communiqué signed by Prof. Michael Faborode the amount made up to 70 per cent of the total allocation in 2008 to all federal universities.

Especially universities in Europe and North America but also in foreign African countries like Ghana attract more and more Nigerians.

Part of the challenges Nigeria’s Higher Education Sector faces are the restiveness of students between host communities, school administration, weak governance structure and processes, the report states. With the academic calendar already disrupted, bickering between the Academic Staff Union, other staff unions, university managements and the government is likely to continue. The CBC report states that in Nigeria

the culture of robust debate and collaborative engagement between government, university management and staff for a common vision and progress” was negatively affected.

In global rankings Nigerian universities have faced tremendous degradation in recent years which make studies abroad further attractive.

According to the Central Bank Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, there are about 71,000 Nigerian students in nearby Ghana alone, where they pay about ten million US-Dollars annually as tuition fees.

Commentating the trend, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, former Vice-Chancellor of Redeemer’s University (Move, Ogun State), already at beginning of this year had warned:

More Nigerian students will go overseas, and I will not be surprised, if their lecturers follow them, as this government continues to pay lip service to improving education in Nigeria.’’

Nigeria's Higher Education Sector has become less attractive to aspirant students. © Zouzou Wizman

Nigeria’s Higher Education Sector has become less attractive to aspirant students. © Zouzou Wizman

According to a research recently published by the British Council, it was predicted that the number of Nigerian students in the UK would rise from just 2,800 in 2007, to 30,000 by 2015 and that the UK education sector was fuelled with about 1.5 billion US-Dollars every year. Recently, also countries like the Ukraine have gained more and more attraction for Nigerian students as degrees achieved in these countries are rated higher in international comparison and are usually recognized worldwide.

Over the course of a decade, the global number of tertiary students enrolled in programmes outside their home countries has almost doubled from just over two million in 2000 to nearly four million in 2011.

Read experiences by Nigerian students abroad, like this statement from Olaitan Laniya, an ex-resident and student in the UK:

My experience studying in the UK was okay because everything is at your disposal. But back in Nigeria, the environment is not conducive for learning and most students don’t know about plagiarism as it’s all about copy and paste. In Nigeria, you pay for your handouts whereas, over there, you get it free from your lecturers or you can as well go online and download it.”

Little attractive: University of Lagos Faculty of Engeneering © Zouzou Wizman

Little attractive: University of Lagos Faculty of Engeneering © Zouzou Wizman

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About the author

Marius Münstermann is based in Berlin where he works as a freelance journalist. Marius serves as editor-in-chief at eufrika.org.

View all articles by Marius Münstermann

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