By Gabriel Dike
The Federal Government, yesterday, tasked foreign universities operating in Nigeria to adhere strictly to the country’s guidelines on transnational education as developed by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, gave the directive in Abuja when he received the chancellor of one of the oldest universities in the United State of America, Rutgers University – CAMDEN (established in 1776).
Sununu, who presented a copy of the National Guidelines on Transnational Education to the visiting Chancellor of Rutgers University expressed Nigeria’s readiness to work with universities around the world in improving access to quality higher education in the country.
The minister told the visitors that access to quality education was a priority of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, and maintained that the Federal Ministry of Education had taken the president’s charge very seriously, and would stop at nothing to ensure that quality education is delivered to the vast majority of Nigerians.
He tasked institutions of higher learning in the country to collaborate with their foreign counterparts to train more professionals to replace those exiting the system instead of lamenting over the issue of brain drain, adding that Nigeria has the capacity to provide a significant chunk of manpower needs around the globe, given the country’s population.
Sununu lauded the collaborative efforts of Rutgers University with the Universities of Lagos and Ibadan, maintaining that the Federal Ministry of Education would do everything within the ambit of the law to encourage collaboration between Rutgers University and Nigerian universities, especially in the areas of science & technology.
Speaking earlier, Chancellor of Rutgers University, Antonio Tillis told the minister that his university was seeking to renew the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the University of Lagos, as well as expanding collaboration with other Nigerian universities in areas of research and exchange of academic programmes.
Tillis was accompanied on the working visit by the Senior Vice Chancellor of Rutgers University, Jimmy Jung.