JUST BEFORE YOU GO FOR THAT FOREIGN MASTERS DEGREE.

With the way things are in Nigeria today considering the acute unemployement challenges, going abroad for a masters degree is seen by many as a way of enhancing ones marketability in the labour market after its completion.

Over time, from my personal experiences with friends and colleagues who had gone abroad for one masters or the other and back to the country to seek green pastures, the real aim of going abroad have not always been achieved due to a lot of factors.

1. KNOW THAT GETTING THE DREAM JOB IS A CONTEST BETWEEN YOU AND OTHERS.

You must first realised the fact that getting the dream job is a contest between you and thousands others that are capable and probably possess better degrees than you.

When you realise this fact, you will be able to make the best decision on what course to study abroad. The fact that most graduates are going for MBA's does not mean you should follow the crowd, what other specialisation do you think will be highly rated ahead of the conventional MBA?

2. FAILING TO DO PROPER RESEARCH

Most Nigerians set out of the country to do their masters degree without taking time to undertake proper research about the quality of education offered in their destined country.

Every country has its own educational standards and shortcomings, what is acceptable in a clime may not be acceptable in another country. Before you set out for that foreign degree, learn more about the global ranking of the country's educational system, it will be a total waste of time and money for you to go to a country which Nigeria is ranked ahead to study and expect to come back home and be well recognised.

It is not surprising these days to see Nigerians going abroad to some obscure countries to go and study degrees they could have better studied in some of our best private universities, that is if you don't want to get entangled in any strike.

3. WHICH SCHOOL DO YOU WANT TO ATTEND?

The school you attend plays a major role atimes in places you can break into, the job market or better still, the corporate world operates like a cabal, it thrives much on strong alumni links and networking.

Consider this scenario, you are the manager of a company that wants to interview people for a job and you see applicants from a school you once attended, by simple law of attraction, you will want to have a soft spot for those particular sets of applicants because you see them as your younger ones indirectly.

My candid advise is that its good to attend schools with strong alumni presence in every sector of the economy because you never can tell, it will works a lot when you least expect.


4. WHAT IS THE RANKING/STANDARD OF THE SCHOOL ATTENDED?

Don't just fool yourself by going to anyhow school just because you want to obtain that foreign degree, every society has its Ivvy league schools that are highly rated and same for the lowly rated schools.

In the UK, if you are not a product of Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics and a few others, you are not there yet, same for the US and even Nigeria too.

While graduates are crying daily of unemployment, there are the few that keeps on getting choice offers based on the strong brand attached to the schools they attended abroad or at home.

Just as I said earlier, the corporate world operates like a cabal and the major players will mostly want to attract people of same pedigree to their folds. A manager that attends any of the top ivvy league schools or even our dear Lagos Business School here in Nigeria, would most likely want to regard graduates of such schools ahead of others.

Or what's the good in going to acquire that degree abroad and coming back home to play second fiddle to graduates of Unilag, UI, OAU, UNN or ABU?

Please don't waste that hard earned money to go abroad for study and be back to square one after having exhausted time and resources to pursue that life long dream.

Remember that the essence of pursuing that foreign degree is to enhance your marketability prospects in the host country or when you get back home, so please, think twice before embarking on this sojourn.

Wishing you all a wonderful 2015!

Wishing u d very best of anything life can bring. As for the topic, sum1 should summarise it 4me..

Thanks @barnaby04.... that was an eye opener. Thumbs up.

U made lotta sense walahi

But where is te lagos business school located

OnyeEgo1:
But where is te lagos business school located

Chibok

Thanks guys. My aim of writing this piece is to educate my fellow brothers and sisters that wants to travel abroad for further studies to do a critical analysis on the country and school they intends to go and also what competitive edge it will grant them after the whole study.

No matter how bad our standards of education is in Nigeria today, to be specific, most of the universities our folks goes to attend in Ghana except some few Government owned ones are nothing short of glorified secondary schools.

Can you imagine a university having just a single block of building where students receives lectures in portacabins? These are the kinds of schools we have in high numbers in Ghana exploiting desperate Nigerians in search of foreign degrees.

This is a new year guys, please SHINE YOUR EYES before you embark on that trip abroad for that degree.