As 128,639 citizens study in foreign universities



By Dayo Adesulu


NO fewer than one million students seeking admission through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, every year have failed to get slots in tertiary institutions in Nigeria as the system cannot admit more than 600,000 in any given year. In 2013, 1,629,102 registered for UTME, in 2014, it was 1,606753 and 1,000,400 in 2015. For 2016, a total of 1,589,175 registered, just as 1,736,571 and 1,662,762 registered in 2017 and 2018 respectively.


Kano State Deputy Governor Professor Hafiz Abubakar monitoring the conduct of the ongoing Joint Admission and Matriculation Examination across the State. File Photo With 158 universities and 115 polytechnics, colleges of education and monotechnics, their carrying capacity is still slightly above 600,000. Meanwhile, an average of 1.6 million UTME candidates register for entrance examination yearly.

Available statistics show that the approved capacity by the National Universities Commission, NUC, for each of the federal universities is between 7,000 and 15,000. There are some state and private universities whose capacities are between 1,000 and 4,000. This is imperative because the Quality Assurance Department of the NUC ensures that no university admits beyond its capacity.

Besides, investigations also revealed that the grading of students’ WASSCE results and UTME score by universities as qualifications for admission is one of the reasons WAEC and NECO candidates engage in examination malpractices. They do so in order to score ‘A’s or ‘B’s. They feel that having grade A or B in WASSCE would give them the chance of securing the limited admission spaces in the universities. Screening exercises Recall that since the cancellation of post-UTME, universities have adopted modality for admission.

One of the screening exercises is to ensure that any candidate who scores A1 in WASSCE result gets 10 points, B2, 8; B3, 6; C4, 5; C5, 4 and C6, 3 points. Thus, a candidate with 5’A’s gets 50 points automatically. If such candidate scores over 200 in UTME, his chances of securing admission is almost certain than those who have C6 parallel. Since the cancellation of post-UTME, candidates have consistently complained that though they score 230 and above in UTME, yet due to lack of ‘A’s and ‘B’s in their WASSCE, they were denied admission.

The direct implication is that many candidates who ordinarily would not indulge in exam malpractice, as they would be satisfied with a score of C6 or C5 to gain admission, now given the fear of missing out in the limited admission spaces, indulge in examination malpractices. After several years of failures in some cases, parents and guardians do assist these students to source for syndicates and fund the malpractice. Ordinarily, if the carrying capacity of the Nigerian universities is directly proportional to the number of admission seekers, there would have been no need for institutions of higher learning to introduce yardstick to trim down intake.


Many are of the opinion that increasing the carrying capacity of the existing universities would automatically resolve this admission deficits. Assuming every student passed both WASSCE with UTME with distinctions, where are the admission spaces? Yearly, about 1.7 million candidates sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME. Out of this figure, less than 700,000 are admitted both in public and private institutions.

Even those who would have willingly gone to private universities could not because of the cost implications on their families. This year, the total number of candidates who sat for the UTME was less than 1,662,762 million and only about 600,000 would eventually be admitted at the end of the exercise. What this portends is that every year, Nigeria has a spillover of a million candidates without hope of tertiary education. Some students whose parents can afford the cost of foreign education have already been taken to the United Kingdom, United States of America, Asian and some other African countries.

It is mind-boggling that the UK remains the number one destination for Nigerian students who study abroad. According to UNESCO, in 2016, there were 17,973 Nigerians studying in UK universities. Meanwhile, Mr. Iain Steward, member of the British Parliament, said that their target was to ensure about 30,000 Nigerians are studying in UK universities by 2020. If that is the British contention, what is the target of our government for education of its citizenry?


Following closely is Ghana which has 71,000 Nigerian students, with Nigerians paying about one billion dollars annually as fees. Lamido Sanusi, former CBN governor, said at a public lecture that although there are no comprehensive data on the number of Nigerian students abroad, recent data have shown that there are about 71,000 Nigerian students in Ghana paying about US$1billion annually as tuition fees and upkeep, as against the annual budget of US$751million for all Nigerian federal universities.

UNESCO on its part said that 13,919 Nigerian students studied in Ghana as at 2016, indicating a whooping 50 per cent rise from figures as at 2012. In the United States, in 2014, the United States Embassy noted that 7,318 Nigerian students were studying in more than 700 universities and colleges in that country. The Malaysian Government is not left out as it has set the ambitious goal of becoming the world’s sixth largest education exporter by 2020.


As a result, the Malaysian Higher Education sector is rapidly advancing, making it a popular study destination for international students. There are about 13,000 Nigerian students in Malaysian universities. UNESCO reported that 3,257 Nigerian students were studying in Canada in 2016. However, according to former Ambassador Perry John Calderwood, Canadian High Commissioner in Nigeria, more than 6,000 Nigerian students were studying in Canadian universities in 2014. He also said that Nigeria has become the eighth largest source of foreign students in Canada.

Source of foreign students In the Eastern European countries of Russia and Ukraine, UNESCO disclosed that more than 3,300 Nigerian students were studying in Ukraine with the number of Nigerian students studying in Russia gradually increasing over the past few years. It placed the figure at 777 Nigerian students studying in Russia in 2016. In Hungary, the University of Debrecen, one of the best and widely-known schools in the country has over 700 Nigerian students, more than half of that number undertaking courses in the medical field.


In South African universities, Nigerian students have a reported population of 2,525 in 2016. Also, about 1,755 Nigerian students were reported studying in UAE in 2016, just as 1,915 Nigerian students were reportedly studying in Saudi Arabia in 2016. Other countries with Nigerian students are India with 1,260 students, Egypt,1,189 students; Australia, 949 students; Turkey, 876 students; and Germany with 845 Nigerian students as at 2016. It is saddening to note that there are no records of the number of foreign students studying in Nigerian universities.

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/05/jamb-admission-shortfall-nigeria-needs-1m-varsity-spaces/

Lalasticlala

Till we adequately cater for the ones we have by following the required budget percentage recommended by the same UNESCO, please no need to add another one to the already glorified secondary school we call universities...

HigherEd:


It is mind-boggling that the UK remains the number one destination for Nigerian students who study abroad. According to UNESCO, in 2016, there were 17,973 Nigerians studying in UK universities. Meanwhile, Mr. Iain Steward, member of the British Parliament, said that their target was to ensure about 30,000 Nigerians are studying in UK universities by 2020. If that is the British contention, what is the target of our government for education of its citizenry?


Following closely is Ghana which has 71,000 Nigerian students, with Nigerians paying about one billion dollars annually as fees.

Can you just imagine

The British aren't doing that because they love Nigerians or Nigeria but because it actively funds their govt. Every year the UK makes about £60 million pounds from foreign students. While findings by timeshigher revealed that a lot of research in UK universities are funded by the millions in overcharge of foreign students especially the likes of Nigeria, India and co.

I hope this is a wake up call to the Nigerian govt, people would always crave for university education and unfortunately Nigeria has one of the poorest university/population ratio in the world. While the likes of US, India, France have thousands Nigeria still has less than 300. And to make matters worse, the existing ones are mostly in shambles.

CodeTemplar

Just like it is in the society, we need quality as much as we need quantity.
Nigeria currently has huge population but with far lower mental and physical capacity than the average needed. Should we focus on replicating the mediocrity currently in place or improving it first ?
The govt funds or subsidizes university education largely and see further investment into it as burden because the return is low. If the grads are overall contributors who repay the system with more than what they enjoyed then the govt will see funding of Nigerian universities as an investment and do it willingly.

ebuk4real:
Till we adequately cater for the ones we have by following the required budget percentage recommended by the same UNESCO, please no need to add another one to the already glorified secondary school we call universities...

I have always advocated for the concept of PPP universities. Unfortunately when govt started doing it they started doing it wrongly.

Look at Ogun state now, if I am not wrong they have three university that aren't up to standard just like the other state universities in Nigeria.

But what if Ogun for instance adopted Covenant.
Now Covenant is owned by wealthy owners. If you tell winners to give money to OOU they might not or they might just give occasionally but not with vigor has they invest in Covenant. So why can't Ogun offer to pay for all her poor indigenes who gain admission into CU rather than building plenty state universities.

In trying to set up a university you build infrastructure and pay hundreds or thousands of staff and try to fund research which would cost billions of naira and yet more of it would still end up in people's personal pocket.

barojana:

I have always advocated for the concept of PPP universities. Unfortunately when govt started doing it they started doing it wrongly.

Look at Ogun state now, if I am not wrong they have three university that aren't up to standard just like the other state universities in Nigeria.

But what if Ogun for instance adopted Covenant.
Now Covenant is owned by wealthy owners. If you tell winners to give money to OOU they might not or they might just give occasionally but not with vigor has they invest in Covenant. So why can't Ogun offer to pay for all her poor indigenes who gain admission into CU rather than building

I hope you realize that the rich men God is using to drive Covenant financially are already offering scholarships to students, some in Ogun state owned universities and even UK universities. It is both ways but some people are more serious.

CodeTemplar:
I hope you realize that the rich men God is using to drive Covenant financially are already offering scholarships to students, some in Ogun state owned universities and even UK universities. It is both ways but some people are more serious.

Well yeah my point is let them find wealthy private universities to align with so they can co-fund it. Even the US govt does not own any university except for Military academies, but by co-funding private unis they were able to achieve more functional universities for their citizens which are equally turning out great research products because they have a large pool of funds to pull from.

If we are to tell our selves the truth, only federal govt and private individuals can handle university education in Naija. The likes of ekiti's EKSU and Oyo's Lautech are being run so badly. Ekiti would be better off closing EKSU down and transferring her students to ABUAD. Believe me it would cost Ekiti less to fund EKSU students in ABUAD than to be shuffling between paying salaries of EKSU staff and Building Infrastructure in the Uni.

barojana:

Well yeah my point is let them find wealthy private universities to align with so they can co-fund it. Even the US govt does not own any university except for Military academies, but by co-funding private unis they were able to achieve more functional universities for their citizens which are equally turning out great research products because they have a large pool of funds to pull from.

If we are to tell our selves the truth, only federal govt and private individuals can handle university education in Naija. The likes of ekiti's EKSU and Oyo's Lautech are being run so badly. Ekiti would be better off closing EKSU down and transferring her students to ABUAD. Believe me it would cost Ekiti less to fund EKSU students in ABUAD than to be shuffling between paying salaries of EKSU staff and Building Infrastructure in the Uni.

What happens when the private unis start inflating their fees.

CodeTemplar:
What happens when the private unis start inflating their fees.

That would be subject to the kind of agreement or relationship they have with the private uni. First of all I'm not asking govt to support schools like Baze and Nile which are clearly luxury based and for-profits. However, not for profit private unis can be supported in exchange for huge subsidies for students.

Majority of private unis in Nigeria would rather get govt aid in exchange for lowering or expunging fees if they could.

Now, in the UK, to avoid a chaotic system in which govt aided universities shoot up fees indiscriminately, a cap is placed beyond which universities cannot charge for citizens of the UK. However universities are allowed to determine fees for Intl Students.

barojana:

That would be subject to the kind of agreement or relationship they have with the private uni. First of all I'm not asking govt to support schools like Baze and Nile which are clearly luxury based and for-profits. However, not for profit private unis can be supported in exchange for huge subsidies for students.

Majority of private unis in Nigeria would rather get govt aid in exchange for lowering or expunging fees if they could.

Now, in the UK, to avoid a chaotic system in which govt aided universities shoot up fees indiscriminately, a cap is placed beyond which universities cannot charge for citizens of the UK. However universities are allowed to determine fees for Intl Students.

I'm not sure this addresses the issue of limited spaces. But it is worth exploring sha. For me I think collaboration would be better placed in the health sector.
Imagine big churches building big hospitals and equipping it while govt staffs it.

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