The United Kingdom Government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting international education in Nigeria by building strong partnerships with Nigerian universities.
The commitment was made at the on-going Global Conference in Abuja, with the theme, “Building sustainable and relevant tertiary education institutions and systems in Africa”.
The UK announced three projects to expand partnerships between UK universities and Nigeria universities
The News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) reports that the three-day conference is being hosted by the British Council.
It provides a platform for tertiary education senior leaders, policymakers and industry experts to debate the future of further and higher education.
The UK government’s International Education Champion, Sir Steve Smith, in his opening remarks at the conference announced the commencement of three projects between UK and Nigeria universities.
Smith said that starting in Jan. 2025, the new projects would be supported through the British Council Transnational education (TNE) exploratory grants scheme.
He said that the projects were focused on expanding partnerships between institutions in Nigeria and the UK.
According to Smith, such partnerships contribute to transforming local systems and strengthening institutional capabilities, and also create pathways for cross-sector innovation, bringing academia and industry closer together.
The British High Commissioner, Dr Richard Montgomery, said that over 60 per cent of Africa’s population under 25, and there are projections that the population would reach 2.5 billion by 2050.
He said that the continent needed to harness a demographic dividend, adding that to do that, more and better-quality higher education is needed.
“Education partnerships in the continent need to evolve, and the focus must be on strengthening Africa’s domestic higher education systems,” he said .
In attendance at the conference were the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, Acting Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Chris Maiyaki, and other notable education stakeholders.
Meanwhile, Smith is scheduled to lead a delegation of 11 UK universities to engage with their Nigerian counterparts.
This will include a visit to Lagos to explore opportunities for sustainable, mutually beneficial TNE partnerships. NAN)
