The British Council has been asked to identify UK institutions with links already in Nigeria to be part of a pilot scheme to run cross-border higher education (CBHE) in Nigeria.
Currently, only 20 per cent of Nigerian secondary school leavers have access to places at universities in Nigeria, leaving many thousands without the chance to continue their education in the country.
Until now, foreign training providers were prohibited from running degree programmes in Nigeria; however, the Federal Government is now looking to develop access to quality higher education through CBHE, with the support of the British Council through the PMI2 Connect programme.
In March 2009, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education launched a 'Roadmap for the Nigerian education sector'. Among the problems identified were the issues of access, staff capacity and the need to increase the carrying-capacity of Nigerian institutions. In response, the British Council, the Nigeria National Universities Commission (NUC) and other academic and technical institutions have been working together to facilitate dialogues and develop a qualifications framework.
The most recent dialogue took place on 28 and 29 September 2009 in Abuja and was jointly hosted by the NUC and the British Council.Speaking at the conference, the Minister of State for Education, Hajia Aisha Jibril Adukku, said, 'It is widely acknowledged that cross-border higher education has great potentials in expanding access, which will in turn lead to the production of higher level manpower critical to the socio-economic and technological development of any nation.' She pledged that the Federal Ministry of Education would support reputable foreign providers who fulfilled the eligibility and quality assurance requirements stipulated in the NUC guidelines.
Kevin Van Cauter, the British Council's higher education partnerships advisor, said, 'This is a real breakthrough for UK universities and colleges. It means that for the first time they can now begin to develop long-term, sustainable partnerships with Nigerian universities to help them meet the pressing economic needs of their country. The British Council has been working with Nigeria's National Universities Commission over the past two years to develop a cross-border HE framework. Our involvement in the pilot phase of this new scheme gives UK universities and colleges the opportunity to develop programmes in collaboration with Nigerian partners with full support from us and the NUC. Opportunities for support for partnership development in Nigeria under the Prime Minister's Initiative for International Education (PMI2) will be announced shortly.'
Three types of cross-border activity are permissible in Nigeria. These are the:
- twinning / articulation model
- branch campus model
- open and distance learning model.
The NUC has issued an advertorial in its Monday Bulletin detailing the procedure for the registration of foreign / transnational providers of university education in Nigeria.
The British Council is looking for UK institutions with established links with Nigerian institutions keen to be part of the pilot scheme to run CBHE in Nigeria.
Interested institutions are asked to contact Bola Olaoye, British Council Nigeria.
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