Why foreign students, lecturers shun Nigerian varsities —Jega

A committee on the review of admission into the nation’s
tertiary institutions has recommended a new framework to globalise
operations at the universities.

Chairman of the Committee on Internationalization of Admissions
into Tertiary Educational Institutions in Nigeria, Prof. Attahiru
Jega, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday.

The report was presented to the Registrar of the Joint Admission
and Matriculation Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede.

Jega recommended that the Federal Government put in more efforts
to ensure the safety and security of citizens and foreigners in the
country.

He added that the government must also make conscious efforts to
promote the country’s culture abroad through agencies such as the
National Council for Arts and Culture.

He also recommended that tertiary institutions should open
offshore campuses for the export of Nigerian education under a
robust regulatory framework.

According to him, Nigeria currently scores low on the
internationalisation index.

He said, “In a survey of August 2019 by this committee on
tertiary institutions in Nigeria, of the 194 institutions that
responded, there were 1,856 foreign students out of the total
1,132,795 students.

“There was 437 foreign academic staff from a total of 5,604
academic staff in these institutions. Foreign students make up 0.18
percent in universities, 0.29 per cent in polytechnics and 0.04
percent in Colleges of Education.

“The percentage of all foreign students in Nigeria’s tertiary
education system as at 2018/2019 session is 0.16 percent.

“With regard to academic staff, the percentage of foreign
academics in Nigerian universities is 0.008 percent, 1.64 percent
in polytechnics and 0.18 percent in Colleges of Education.

“This is an indication that the teaching staff in tertiary
education system is largely dominated by Nigerian academics.’’

Jega further said that the essence of the report was to propose
urgent actions to be taken by the country’s tertiary institutions
to attract and retain both international students and staff.

He, therefore, called on JAMB to encourage the
internationalisation of tertiary institutions by promoting
admission of foreign students.

He also called on various institutions to take specific actions
to promote internationalisation of their institutions and
programmes.

Responding, Oloyede promised to push for the implementation of
the document, saying that the policy on internationalisation of
admission would be given necessary consideration.

He said, “One of the aspects of the mandates of JAMB is the
internationalisation of admissions. For the past three years, we
have been battling with other issues that we are almost forgetting
the issue of internationalisation.

“Active steps will be taken to ensure that the report will
immediately go to the ministry of education for necessary action.’’
(NAN)