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India schools woo Nigerian students

Indians are now looking to enro ll Nigerian students in their tert iary inst itutions. With a 15 per cent

international students quota to f ill, the institutions are hoping that eligible Nigerian st udents , who lose out

of the admission process locally due to space const raints, would consider India f or af f ordable tertiary

education.

For two days last week, more than 12 Indian inst itutions part icipated in an education expo hos ted by the

Indian Embassy on Victoria Island, Lagos.

In addition to charging tuition f ees f ar cheaper than what obtains in Europe and America, the popular

destinations f or Nigerian students, so me of the institutions promised prospective students scholarships,

quality education service delivery, and assured them of af f ordable living expenses.

Some of the institut ions present at t he expo included, SRM University, Chennai; Galgot ias University,

Greater Noida; Symbiosis International University, Pune; BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore; Don

Bosco Institut e of Technology, Banbalore; VAG Group of Educational Inst itutes , New Delhi; and R.R

Institutions, Bangalore.

Representat ive of SRM University who also doubled as the Head, Middle East and Af rica, Samiullah Khan

said the inst itution is a private university that ranks among the top 10 in India.

He said the inst itution which accepts the West African Senior Schoo l Certif icate Examination (WASSCE) and

the National Examinations (NECO) Council SSCE results f rom Nigerians as ent ry qualif ications, has o ver

$200,000 earmarked for scholarships for those who meet the merit benchmark.

Khan added that s tudents could also secure jobs bef ore graduation as over 170 companies f lood t he

institution, scrambling f or their hotcakes graduates.

You know India is known f or ICT, and we have over 170 companies t hat come to employ our st udents. All

SRM students get jobs bef ore graduation. The students join the company even befo re graduation, and the

companies recruit and train them while they are st ill in schoo l. The companies move the t raining to the

school rather than having it in their offices because we have the facilities, he said.

Galgotias University in Greater Noida is of f ering students af f ordable education in a well planned city. Head

of its International Relations Unit, Anita Charles, said cost o f living is low while Nigerian students who take

up of f ers will learn a lot f rom the international community of over 5,000 students.

Greater Noida is a well-planned city, but it is not crowded. There are over 80 inst itutions in that city. It is

also a big plus because up to 5,000 international students reside there. The cos t o f living is af f ordable.There are a whole lot of Nigerians in India. It is true that the climate, culture and food are different but that

is also an important aspect of education f or inter-cultural learning, she said.

Another representat ive, Anita Patankar of Symbiosis International University, said students seeking good

quality education in Management and Law can be rest assured to get it in her institut ion.

While at $5,000-6,000, Symbios is is one of the high end universities in India, Patankar said students can be

rest assured they are getting quality.

Other institutions, such as Vag Group o f Education Institutes, which runs eight inst itutes charges only

1,200 for t uition, books, ID card, exam f ees and f ree English-speaking seminar; Bharath University on theot her hand, charges $130,000 fo r Medicine f or f our- f ive plus years.

Some of the students, who attended the exhibition, said they were willing to travel to India for their

education because the Asian country is known for expert ise in Inf ormation Communications Technology, as

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well ad the af f ordable tuition compared with private inst itutions here in Nigeria.

A parent , Mr. Tunde Adelanwa said he wants his daughter to travel t o India t o st udy because of the space

constraint in Nigeria.

She f inished her secondary schoo l education with good grades t wo years ago but up till now she has not

been given admission into any university, he said.

In his address, the High Commissioner o f India to Nigeria, Mr. Mahesh Sachdev, said t he advantage o f

Indian institutions is that they of f er quality and aff ordable education t hat is globally-recognised.