Ischolar Seeks Sponsorship for Foreign Graduate School Programme

Funmi Ogundare

Ischolar Initiative has called on education stakeholders and corporate organisations for a partnership to sponsor qualified youths for foreign graduate school programmes.

Its board of trustees chairwoman, Tolu Ewherido, who made the appeal during a virtual meeting with journalists recently, said Nigerian scholars with potential lacked access to opportunities.

She stated, “We realised that there are significant talents in our universities. But part of the challenges they are facing is affordability. We try to pay for their standardised test and graduate school application fees in top colleges globally, as well as end-to-end mentoring.”

Ewherido added that beneficiaries of the scholarship had, in the last two years, received about N1 billion, with each scholar getting N60 million.

“In 2020, 14 million investment by iSI yielded about N2 billion in total scholarships for the scholars, which covers their tuition, accommodation and living expenses for the duration of their respective graduate programmes. With this, scholars are better positioned to be competitive for university scholarships.”

She described the impact on returns on investment as infinite, adding that the scholars are collaborating to launch research papers, write books on how to access funds.
The chairwoman further explained, “We track the number of scholars that are coming on an annual basis. Even when they get into the college, we still track them until when they become alumni.”

The vice president of operations, Kunle Ojeleye, noted that the organisation collaborated with some partners to offer assistance to the scholars, adding that quality analysts also assess their application.

Its president, Victor Ogunmola, expressed hope about the quality of scholars coming from Nigeria, saying that, in the long run, they can add to the net economic value of the country.