See graduation list of UK university dominated by Nigerian students
Reactions have trailed a graduation ceremony list of the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom with 97 percent of Nigerian students dominating the list with distinctions.
The list was released on Wednesday, 7th December 2022 for the Department of Nursing, Health, and Wellbeing.
Official data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency said within a period of one year, the number of Nigerian students studying in the United Kingdom (UK) universities increased year-on-year by 63.5 percent to 21,305 in the 2020/2021 academic year.
The data also capture that nowadays, Nigerian youths prefer to study abroad with the hope of accessing good education and hopefully a better life, while others consider it an epitome of academic excellence.
The surge in the number of Nigerians entering the UK for studies may not be unconnected to the frequent and prolonged industrial strikes embarked upon by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) since the return of democracy to the country in 1999.
Recently, students of public universities across the country have been forced out of the classroom for more than eight months due to the ASUU strike that began on 14th February and stretched to 14th October 2022.
SBM Intelligence, Africa-focused geopolitical research, and strategic communications firm report that Nigerian students and their dependents contributed an estimated sum of £1.93 billion to the United Kingdom (UK) in 2021.
For Nigeria, it evidently represents a net drain on its talent and skills pool.
According to the British government, the number of Nigerians granted student visas by the UK increased by 222.8 percent to 65,929, the highest in four years in June 2022 from 20,427 in the same period of 2021.
The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, based largely in Hatfield, the university has 9 schools and has over 25,130 students, including 5,200 international students that together represent 100 countries as of 2021.
