Senator Iroegbu in Abuja
The United Kingdom pre-university school, Abbey DLD Group of Colleges, has said that Nigerian parents still strive to send their children and wards to schools abroad despite the limitations of the current forex restrictions.
The Students Admissions Manager for UK’s Abbey DLD Group of Colleges in Africa, Mr. Jalaluddeen Muazu disclosed this during a media briefing at the weekend in Abuja.
Jalaluddeen noted the UK has an international reputation for the quality of its education system and qualifications offered by British schools, colleges and universities are recognised globally as hallmarks of excellence and distinction.
To this end, he said that there are still many wealthy Nigerian parents who are prepared to pay for high quality education for their children.
According to him, one of the biggest legacies parents can leave to their children, is high quality education such as the one offered by Abbey DLD Group of Colleges, a set of pre-university schools that prepare students for admissions in some of UK’s most prestigious universities.
He stated Abbey DLD’s Nigerian students come from the country’s most wealthy and successful families and it is expected that the fall in naira will increase the cost.
“But, we expect it to have minimal impact on the number of Nigerian admissions over the long term. Due to our success at securing top university places we are still recruiting excellent students from Nigeria,” he remarked.
He said: “While the government’s restrictions have caused the cost of UK education to rise for Nigerian families, there are still many wealthy Nigerians who want the best for their children and are prepared to pay for high quality education.
“Definitely, the forex is affecting the whole system because the parents now pay more to train and educate their children abroad. But as you know the greatest legacy you can give to your children is education and that’s why parents still send their children abroad for studies.
“So while the fall of naira is affecting the forex issues and cost of education but it has not discouraged them much as parents are still sending their children to school for school abroad.”
Jalaluddeen stressed that foreign education should be made exempt from currency restrictions to ensure Nigerian families are not penalised for wanting the best international education for their children.
“We hope that the government will exempt foreign education from currency restrictions in the future. We need to ensure that Nigerian families are not penalised for wanting the best international education for their children,” he added.
The Students Admissions Manager also noted that Nigerian students are some of the brightest in the world and have excelled in most of the schools they were admitted, urging the government not to deny the parents the opportunity to enrol their children in some of the best universities.
To ease the difficulties created by the forex regime, he said that the Abbey DLD Group of Colleges has devised a payment plan that will help parents send their children to the universities of their choice.
“Nigerians students always excel abroad, especially in our institutions. We have the some of the very best brains from to compete anywhere in the world.
“We have devised a payment method to help ease the pains and difficulties caused by the current forex regime and the first is to encourage them make payment in advance and a spread payment plan in installmental basis. We also give parents some percentage discount on the payment,” he said.
Jalaluddeen revealed that most Nigerian students often complete their secondary school education with an O’Level which is not the same as the required A Levels needed to gain entry into UK’s universities.
He said that their Schools including Oxford, Cambridge, University College London (UCL) and Imperial College London, regularly feature in the world’s top 10 and employers around the world look favourably upon UK graduates.
“Our courses include comprehensive GCSE, A Level Programmes and a number of International Foundation Programmes,” he said, adding that going to pre-university schools in the UK such as Abbey DLD allows Nigerian students to “acclimatise” and achieve the grades they need to outdo other international students competing for places at top UK universities.
