From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Universities Commission (NUC) said on Friday that Nigerian universities are beginning to attract the interest of foreign students, describing the development as dividends of years of reforms, academically and otherwise, in the university system.
NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, confirmed that for the first time in 20 years, Nigeria has received foreign students from several countries, and recently, students from over 17 countries subscribed to one university alone, courtesy of the African Centre of Excellence (ACE) programme.
Prof. Rasheed, who spoke at the 2022 ACE Regional Conference in Abuja, with the theme: “Sustainable Integration of Digital Education in the Post COVID-19 Era” said the conference was organised with the aim of deepening education stakeholders’ understanding and participation in the digital education landscape.
He confirmed the unbundling of several programmes in the university to enable it refocus and produce professionals in different areas.
Prof. Rasheed confirmed that blueprint for revitalising education in Nigeria was developed and ready for use, until COVID-19 forced a minor change in the document, adopting sustainable integration of digital education.
Prof. Rasheed noted that one of the blueprints was to carry out a comprehensive review of the curricula, and after four years with over 1,200 academics involved, the NUC successfully re-engineered the curricula of universities.
Dr. Olivier Kuttel, the head of International Affairs of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, Switzerland, in his remarks, challenged African universities to embrace, deepen digital education and make it acceptable to their societies in order to achieve its desired impact.