JAMB offers scholarships to best-performing foreign nationals
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it will offer scholarships to foreign nationals who perform “exceptionally” in its next Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The JAMB registrar said candidates in the sub-region who desire to school in Nigeria should look forward to the board’s sales of application forms which would commence in December.
This was made known in a press statement released Sunday afternoon by the spokesperson of the board, Fabian Benjamin
According to the statement, the JAMB registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this at the 6th annual conference of West Africa Universities held at the Universite Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal.
“Scholarship would be available to some foreign nationals who perform exceptionally in the examination,” he said.
The registrar delivered a paper titled “Trans-Border Education and Research: Quality Assurance Implications for African Universities” at the conference.
He urged regional universities to ensure their students collaborate with their counterparts in the sub-region with a view to finding solutions to problems confronting West Africa.
“This document will be made available at all Nigeria missions abroad at very affordable prices,” Mr Oloyede said.
He said the challenges of trans-border research include; the difference in the education system in the sub-region, weaker internal assessment mechanism, the superficial external quality assurance system.
“They should not limit their vision for the production of graduates for only their nations (market) but for the entire sub-region,” he said.
Citing the University of Ilorin as an example, Mr Oloyede said the university has been able to achieve its “international status” because it made a “deliberate effort” in admitting students from neighbouring West African countries.
“The University of Ilorin in Nigeria made a deliberate effort to offer some assistance (admission) to neighboring West African countries by creating an opportunity to support eligible students from surrounding countries to undertake higher education,” he said.
He urged all universities in the sub-region to ensure that a certain quarter of their space is set aside for international students as this would enable universities in the sub-region compete with their peers globally.
Mr Oloyede also said the board has the capacity to provide professional services to clients in the area of conducting large scale examination.
The conference is held annually for universities in the West African sub-region. It brings people in related academic fields together in a bid to address the challenges facing the sub-region.
JAMB is charged with the responsibility to administer similar examinations for applicants to Nigerian public and private universities, monotechnics, polytechnics and colleges of education.
