Thursday, December 12, 2019

JEGA Submits Internationalisation of Admissions Report To JAMB, Says Implementation Must Take Immediate Effect

Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Attahiru Jega has recealed that only about 1,856 foreign students are presently attending Nigerian tertiary institutions.

The figures were polled from a total of 1,132,795 students who responded in a survey involving 194 tertiary institutions in the country.

Jega who disclosed this while unveiling a new roadmap to enable the federal government to take steps in internationalising foreign students in the country said the few numbers of foreign students is out of the total number of 1,132,795 students presently in the country’s tertiary institutions.

The survey scored Nigeria low on the internationalization index.

“Out of 194 tertiary institutions which responded to the survey we carried out, only 1,856 foreign students school in Nigeria out of a total of 1,132,795 students,” Jega who chaired the internationalisation Committee said.

While presenting the report to management of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB), initiators of the survey, Jega said there were only 437 foreign academic staff polled from a total of 5,604 academic staff in these institutions.

He said foreign students make up 0.18percent in Universities, 0.29percent in Polytechnics and 0.04percent in Colleges of Education.

“The percentage of all foreign students in Nigeria’s tertiary education system as at the 2018-2019 session is 0.16percent, with regards to academic staff, the percentage of foreign academics in Nigerian universities is 0.008percent and 1.64percent in polytechnics and 0.18percent in the colleges of education, an indication that teaching staff in Nigerian tertiary education system is largely dominated by Nigerian academics,” he stated.

Jega admonished that, to effectively attract and retain international students and staff, stakeholders in the sector must key into measures to create deliberate policies to promote the admission of foreign students.

Other recommendations provided by the Jega led Committee to boost internalization of foreign students, includes the need to place advertorials through international newspapers, magazines, journals, international websites and other online platforms.

Also recommended was the need to publish information on accredited programmes offered by our institutions, including the requirements for admission into such programmes.

According to Jega,  the tertiary education system in Nigeria, being the largest in Africa, should be an active player in the internationalization of education in the continent and indeed the world.

On his part, Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede said the policy was part of programmes being mulled by the federal government to reform the tertiary education sector.

While commending the committee for a job well done said, the board  will push for the implementation of  the recommendations.

He announced that hostel facilities in twelve tertiary institutions in Nigeria would be upgraded by JAMB as part of the process to drive the policy.

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