The Ghent University, Belgium, seeks collaboration with Nigerian universities on research to identify the country’s problems and proffer solutions to solving the problems.
The Director of Internalisation, Ghent University, Prof. Guido Van Huylenbroeck, at a one-day Education Fair in Abuja on Thursday, said the collaboration would be to great advantage of both countries.
According to Huylenbroeck, the university on yearly basis receives no fewer than 60 Nigerian students in its university who have distinguished themselves in various field, hence the need for collaboration to have more potential Nigerians to study in Ghent.
“We are a top 100 University, we have very good knowledge in a number of fields, which can be applied to problems here in Nigeria.
“So I think Nigeria has the human resource potential. There are a lot of talented young researchers in Nigeria but which have not always been accessed to the most.
“By collaborating, we can better understand what are the problems in Nigeria and the researcher can have access to equipment to research methods,” he said.
He said that the university had scholarship which was usually limited because of the number of application but stressed that it would work with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) on areas they could come in to accommodate more Nigerians.
Huylenbroeck said that the university desired a collaboration in such a situation where TETFund could sponsor Nigerians to study in Ghent university and then the university could give a fee waiver in the area of research.
According to him, this collaboration will further assist other students to study in its university and by extension, replicate the knowledge that will add value to their home country.
“We have our own research fund which we give yearly. We give out 15 scholarships but this scholarships are highly competitive because we focused of virtually all African countries except two.
“So, that is why we want the partnership so that if TETFund give scholarship, on our own part we give some waivers for the fees,” he added.
He further said that due to the language differences at the undergraduate levels, the university only target masters and P.HD students.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, said that the commission just consummated its guidelines of transnational education.
Adamu, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary of the commission, Mr Chris Maiyaki, said the transnational education would open up more spaces so that Nigeria could grow and be active players in the sector.
He, therefore, was optimistic that the collaboration would help to get the best practices on how best Nigeria could sell her university system.
Also, the Coordinator, Africa Platform, Ghent University Association, Dr Annelies Verdoolaege, said the collaboration with the Nigerian Government would go a long way in boosting potential in the university system that would translate into the development of the country. (NAN)
•PHOTO: Ghent university, Belgium
