The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Foreign students

  • U.S. earns $42.4 billion from foreign students in 2017

    •International students in U.S hit 1.09 million

    THE United States (U.S.) earned $42.4 billion from foreign students in 2017, it was learnt yesterday.

    The earning, according to a latest report, was from tuition fees, rooms and boarding and other expenses.

    Besides, U.S also recorded increase in number of foreign students as it hit 1,094,792.

    It, however, observed a decrease in the number of new student enrolment.

    A statement issued by the U.S Embassy, Abuja, which quoted the 2018 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, also stated that the numbers of U.S. students, studying abroad grew by 2.3 per cent to 332,727.

    The statement reads: “The United States remains the top host of international students globally. International students made a significant financial impact on the United States in 2017, contributing $42.4 billion to the U.S. economy through tuition, room and board, and other expenses, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

    “As for U.S. students studying abroad numbers grew by 2.3 per cent to 332,727 Americans in 2016/17. Approximately one in 10 U.S. students studies abroad during their undergraduate career.

    “In addition, Open Doors 2018 shows that the profile of U.S. students going abroad continues to diversify. The number of students, who identify as racial or ethnic minorities who studied abroad in 2016/2017 was 29.2 per cent. In 2005/06, racial and ethnic minorities accounted for only 17 per cent of the study abroad population.

    “While overall numbers of international students increased, new student enrolments fell by 6.6 per cent in 2017/18, corroborating findings from the 2017 fall enrolment survey and continuing a slowing or downward trend first observed in the 2015/16 academic year.”

     

  • Kano promises prompt payment of foreign students’ allowances

    Kano promises prompt payment of foreign students’ allowances

    Kano State Government has announced a new design meant to ensure prompt payment of the up-keep of her sponsored students in foreign institutions.

    Deputy Governor, Prof.- Hafiz Abubakar, who announced this to reporters, said a powerful delegation under his office has already visited Turkey and Cyprus to meet with the students and their respective schools management in an effort to improve their studies.

    Hafiz stated that Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is taking measures to ensure that students at Near East University in Cyprus enjoy all the necessary support they may require to enable them complete their academic programmes.

    He said: “We will try as much as possible to resume the payment of their (foreign students) upkeep allowances. We will pay more attention because our financial situation is now improving and more importantly, the reforms that we had set in place for internal revenue generation has started yielding results.”

    He disclosed that the administration had recruited over 762 graduates in the state internal revenue service as part of the measures taken to boost internal revenue generation.

    On the issue of health insurance, Hafiz said the delegation had discussed the matter with university management, adding that henceforth, the school should offer any tertiary demand on health to the students and forward the bill to the government for settlement.

    He urged the students to concentrate on their studies, be good ambassadors of their parents, the state and Nigeria.

    Earlier, the President Association of Kano Students at Near East University Umar Aliyu Shu`aibu, praised Kano administration for honoring some students from Kano who acquired good CGPA (cumulate grade point average) during the last semester.

    He called on the government to intervene in their health insurance, adding that that remains one of the vital areas the school authority needs to review.

  • Forex Crisis: AUN confirms transfer of foreign students

    Forex Crisis: AUN confirms transfer of foreign students

    The American University of Nigeria (AUN) at the weekend confirmed that it had received transfer request from some Nigerian students studying abroad who want to return home to finish their studies because of the scarcity of foreign exchange.

    The AUN stated that due to difficulty in sourcing for forex, some Nigerians in the Diaspora had decided to send their children to the school to finish their education at home.

    A large number of Nigerian students are studying abroad, mainly in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and others.

    The Assistant Vice President, Digital Services and Chief Information Officer, (AUN), Mr. Julius Ayutabe, confirmed this to journalists in Abuja at the 16th graduation ceremony of Global International College.

    Ayutabe, who did not give the figures of foreign Nigerian students who had applied to finish their studies in the university, stated that the school had received students from the US and UK.

    Ayutabe, stated that Nigerian universities had bridged the gap between those abroad, adding that parents now feel comfortable to send their children to study in private universities at home.

    He said: “The Nigerians in the Diaspora are sending their children back home because even they now, are realizing the potential back home to train their children at par with those abroad. Especially with the value of the naira today, parents don’t have the option than to bring their children back home.

  • Nigeria’s world record bag to be designed by foreign students

    The biggest canvas bag in the world, acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records to have been made in Nigeria by Nigerian pupils, is travelling to various countries to be designed by pupils and world leaders.

    When completed, this will fetch the bag a second Guinness World Record – the largest sequined mosaic bag in the world.

    The  ‘Bag of Hope’, measures 10.30 metres (33ft.9in) long, 9.36m wide, and 2.65m deep, and was made between October 31 and November 1, 2015 by pupils of the Lagos Anglican Girls’ Grammar School, Surulere, Lagos (LAGGS). When held up right, it can drop down three floors of a multi-storey building.

    Mrs Olasubomi Aina, whose foundation, Light Up, is behind the initiative, said the Bag of Hope will be used to raise funds to help vulnerable children affected by the Boko Haram and other insurgencies.

    “We came up with this idea of making the largest canvas bag in the world to raise money for less privileged children,” said Mrs Aina, an alumna of LAGGS.

    While school children will design the bag with sequins, Mrs Aina said the world leaders would design the handle.

    Explaining the significance of their involvement, she said: “We have written letters to leaders of countries and parliaments to design the handle of the bag of hope. We are involving them to show their support for the plight of children. It is to remind them that there is a need to re-visit policies relating to less privileged children.

    “We want different children from different parts of the world to put sequins on the bag. Numbered patches will be sent to countries so they will send to schools.

    “Every child that designs the bag will get a sticker or badge that says, ‘I am a world record breaker.’ They are attempting to break another record, so they would be able to say they were part of the team that designed the largest sequined mosaic bag in the world.”

    While education is important, Mrs Aina said Light Up Foundation’s first focus after raising funds through the bag, is to help families of vulnerable children resettle so they can be secure enough to take care of education.

    “We realised there is a need for proper healthcare and the money we’re raising is for families with children and young people to make sure their health is alright before we want to provide facilities for education.

    “Whatever money we raise, we can start with 1,000 families with children; we can look at resettling them,” she said.

    Mrs Aina appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari, governors, and other political leaders to join in designing the bag and supporting the cause, which she said will boost the country’s image.

    “We got funding to make the Bag of Hope in the UK, but I personally rejected the money because the foundation started in Nigeria and I am from here. This kind of thing can help change the name of Nigeria. We have written to the Presidency. We want President Buhari to lead the design. We need to present the certificate of the world record to him. It can’t stay with me because it is addressed to Nigeria,” she said.

    The Foundation is yet to get a response from the presidency regarding getting involved in the exercise.

    Mrs Aina hopes the project would be completed by 2017.

  • ‘Nigeria spends N1bn annually on foreign students’

    Nigeria spends about N1 billion annually as scholarship for foreign students studying in the country, the Director, Federal Scholarship Board, Mrs. Hindatu Abdullahi, has said.

    Abdullahi told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday that government was spending the amount on the programme as “reciprocal scholarship” for the students concerned.

    She said the scholarship was part of the Bilateral Education Agreements (BEA) programme between Nigeria and some other countries.

    The director said that as part of the agreement, Nigeria bears the cost of tuition, accommodation and a little supplementation for the students.

    The countries, according to Abdullahi, were India, Turkey, Russia, Cuba, China, Japan, Algeria, Ukraine, Romania, Syria, Czech Republic and Egypt.

    She said that many Nigerians were also studying in those countries.

    “Their host countries are also expected to pay for accommodation, tuition and allowances,’’ Abdullahi told NAN.