JAMB to offer scholarship to foreign students with outstanding academic performance who are interested in Nigeria
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has concluded plans to offer scholarship to foreign students with outstanding academic performance in the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) who are interested in schooling in Nigeria
JAMB registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, told newsmen in Senegal that JAMB’s intention was to scout around the globe for foreign students with outstanding academic performance in the 2019 and offer them scholarship as one of the ways to bring about competitiveness and improve the standard of education in the country
Its spokesman, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said in a statement released, in Abuja that JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, was speaking at the presentation of a paper during the conference of West Africa Universities held in Senegal.
Oloyede also told the audience that his organisation had discovered why African universities could not be found in the list of global best institutions
He listed differences in education system in the region, weaker internal assessment mechanism, superficial external quality assurance system, lack of uniformity in accreditation agencies autonomy, proliferation of institutions, as being few factors responsible for poor quality and weak education system.
He insisted that until the points were addressed, African universities would continue to produce low quality graduates that would obviously not be able to defend their certificates in a global competition.
He challenged participants at the conference to critically deliberate on the aforementioned issues and possibly offer superior suggestions that would herald significant transformation in African education system.
Oloyede took the opportunity to share the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) experience, where he claimed a deliberate effort was made to offer admission opportunities to eligible students from neighbouring West African countries as a way to address the problem
He, thus, challenged African universities to develop appropriate policies, mechanisms and structures that would streamline and strengthen current efforts to ensure quality, relevance and excellence in African Universities research and education network.
He was equally convinced that quality and stronger academic programmes would attract foreign students and also ensure that a certain quarter of their admission space is set aside for international students.
