How is life in the UK as a postgraduate student?
Being a postgraduate student in the UK
is both interesting and challenging. Interesting in the sense that
students get to use state-of-the-art facilities and are taught by
experts in various fields of study. On the other hand, it is very
demanding and requires that a student gives 100 per cent attention. What
this means is that there is less time to play around, particularly if
you are in the sciences — including medicine, biological sciences and
engineering.
Why did you decide to have the programme abroad and not in Nigeria?
I made the initial decision to pursue my
postgraduate studies abroad when I was in my final year as an
undergraduate student at the University of Ilorin; and the decision was
based on the fact that I felt I needed to learn something new and be
up-to-date in my area of science. Secondly, I felt some of the MSc and
even PhD students that I interacted with from various universities in
Nigeria at that time were not significantly better than most
undergraduate students. Thirdly, I felt Nigeria was way behind the
western world in terms of our quality of education and I said to myself
that I would rather not pursue a postgraduate degree than have a
certificate without the corresponding level of knowledge.
What this means is that as an MSc or PhD
holder in a particular field from a Nigerian University, can you
confidently stand shoulder to shoulder with people with similar degrees –
for example in the UK in terms of your knowledge, both practical and
mental in that area of science? These were some of the things agitating
my mind at the time I decided to pursue a postgraduate degree. Answers
to most of the critical questions I asked myself about our educational
system as a whole were in the negative.
What scholarship is supporting your study?
I initially came to the UK to study for
my Master’s degree through the help of my parents and the support I
received from the senator who was at the time representing my senatorial
district of Ondo State. My PhD is generously funded on the
international student fee waiver scheme offered by the University of
Bradford, UK. In addition to that, I am supported by a grant from the
Centre for Skin Sciences, University of Bradford, which is the institute
where I carry out my research.
You are eager to enlighten Nigerians on other opportunities available for studies/scholarships in the UK
There are various scholarship
opportunities for Nigerians wishing to study abroad. There are many
known ones such as the Commonwealth Scholarship, Chevening Scholarships,
PTDF and NDDC offered by the Nigerian government. There are also some
overseas scholarships offered by some state governments in Nigeria.
Apart from these known ones, universities in the UK offer an array of
scholarships to Nigerians wishing to study in the UK, ranging from full
payment of tuition fees, payment of half of the tuition fees to fee
reduction, which means that the total tuition fee will be reduced by
between £1000 and £3500 upon acceptance of admission by the student and
depending on the institution.
For instance, the University of
Bradford, where I study, offers the following scholarships to Nigerians
and some other foreign nationals wishing to study there: International
Academic Excellence Scholarships, Half Fee Academic Excellence
Scholarships for International Students and Scholarship for Citizens of
World Bank Low to Middle Income Countries.
What rules/principles generally guide the scholarships?
Most times the scholarship awards are
based on academic excellence either in your undergraduate or Master’s
degree. Some of them are applied for separately from the application for
admission. But a considerable number of the awards are decided based on
application for admission. It is also possible to get some scholarships
based on financial circumstance of the prospective student. It is
important that prospective students visit the website of the institution
they want to apply to so as to take full benefit of these funding
opportunities.
You study and work. What type of job do you do and what other similar ones are available to students?
In addition to being a PhD student, I
work as a demonstrator (teaching assistant) where I teach undergraduate
students during practical classes. This opportunity is open to both MSc
and PhD students in most institutions. Students can also work with the
student unions as union officers. Students can work outside the
university as customer service advisors, cover supervisors and teaching
assistants in schools. They can also work in the health sector as
support workers, healthcare assistants and carers. However, students can
only work for 20 hours during term time and work full time during
holiday. It is important for intending students to get funding or
sponsorship before starting their studies in the UK as money from part
time work is often not sufficient to pay tuition fees and maintain the
individual.
The issue of getting stranded has to be
in context. I sincerely believe that people don’t get stranded in the
UK. It is a matter of choice for so many people if they want to go back
to Nigeria or remain in the UK. People consider the economic, security
and family situations while taking these decisions. Availability of
basic amenities such as stable power supply, portable water and good
roads are also put into consideration. It is usually a very difficult
decision for most students returning home after their studies because of
the fear of being jobless on their return to Nigeria. Many would prefer
to remain here and do unskilled jobs to returning to Nigeria.
Do we still have some of them ‘washing dead bodies’ or doing those things people tend to deride?
Washing of dead bodies is a myth. No
student does that in the UK. Washing of dead bodies is a professional
job handled by professionals such as nurses. Coming to the issue of jobs
‘people tend to deride’ in my own opinion, I see those unskilled jobs
as a great opportunity for students to earn a living. Students make so
much money from doing these jobs and at the same time acquire some
skills outside their areas of study. A major difference between the UK
and Nigeria is the fact that there is dignity of labour here while there
is nothing like that in Nigeria. A cleaner here in the UK is respected
and not insulted while doing his or her work. She is even thanked for
doing the job she is paid to do. What do we get in Nigeria? People doing
unskilled jobs are insulted and looked down upon. Many students make
more money from these jobs ‘that people deride’ than most of our
graduates working in various sectors in Nigeria. We need to change our
mentality and make unskilled jobs more lucrative for students in Nigeria
so that most of them from poor background can take up these unskilled
jobs and at the same time not feel less of a human in comparison to
children of wealthy individuals. We can create wealth for our students
if we create a conducive environment for them to study and work. Having
said these, not all students that come to the UK take up part time jobs.
It is a matter of choice.
How would you assess the
postgraduate programme in your institution (in the UK), compared to what
obtains in Nigeria? What kind of relationship exists between a
candidate and his supervisor?
I will start by answering the second
part of the question. The relationship between a student and the
supervisor here is amazing. There is mutual respect. Being a PhD student
is even more interesting because at that stage, there is a higher level
of interaction which suggests that you are more of colleagues rather
than a student and a supervisor. You are not bossed around and you are
allowed to have an independent mind. You can politely disagree with your
supervisor without the fear of any negative consequences on your
research work.
Now to the other question, without being
unduly critical of the system in Nigeria, I would say what we have here
(University of Bradford) in terms of structure of the programme,
quality of the programme and access to facilities, is much better than
what we have in Nigeria. As a PhD student here, the supervisors make
adequate provision for you even before your arrival. This is in terms of
bench space in the lab, the computer you are going to use and the
reagent/equipment you are going to use for your research. In essence,
you have all of these included in your tuition. This is in sharp
contrast to what we have in Nigeria where PhD students run from one
institution to another looking for how to analyse one sample or the
other at their own expense. For me, I think this opens the opportunity
for the student to do less than a thorough job and present results
anyway because they have to graduate.
I must state here that Nigerian students
are very hardworking and are always willing to learn. But in a
situation where the desirable is not available, the available becomes
desirable. The government and our administrators need to sit up. The
content of our curriculum is very shallow and that is a big challenge
for any Nigerian graduate going outside the country. For example, at the
University of Bradford, we have journal clubs where a PhD student reads
a published article and presents it to his/her colleagues and
lecturers. Apart from the fact that this helps the student to understand
the content of the article, it also helps to develop the presentation
skill in the student. It is ludicrous when our leaders tell us that some
of our universities are at par with the best in the world in terms of
facilities and human resources. How possible is that?
An investment on a PhD student in
Nigeria is at most around N5m for the entire duration of study compared
to about N20m or more in my university here and most other UK
universities. How do you expect the same returns on investment? I am
doing my research in the life sciences and it is almost impossible to do
what I am doing at the Centre for Skin Sciences in Nigeria. Basic
tissue culture and Western blotting are not possible in most of our
institutions; and we have PhD holders in life sciences trained in
Nigeria. What sort of output do you expect? And these things have spiral
effects on the students they teach.
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