AUST bars graduating students from seeking jobs abroad

Written by Clement Idoko, Abuja
Monday, December 6, 2010

THE authorities of the African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja, have barred its graduating students from seeking and obtaining jobs abroad or risk withdrawal of certificate.

The Chair, Board of Directors of the University and Managing Director, World Bank Group, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who handed down this warning to the graduating students at the second convocation ceremony of the university in Abuja, at the weekend, said: "I want you to know that we are going to track you."

A total of 43 postgraduate students were awarded various M.Sc Degrees in the five streams of Computer Science, seven graduates, Pure and Applied Maths 12, Petroleum Engineering 15, Theoretical Physics, four, and Material Sciences and Engineering, five graduates.

Okonjo-Iweala vowed that a comprehensive database would be established for all the graduating students of the institution with a view to tracking them in case anyone of them would want to abandon Africa for other parts of the world in search of job.

She reminded the graduating students that the university was established for a particular purpose, which was to train those who would give back to the African continent.

AUST, as the first of the world-class institution, was established as the centre of excellence by the Nelson Mandela Institution (NMI) to produce needed scientists, knowledge building and advancement of science and technology in the sub-Saharan Africa.

Akin-Egba:

AUST bars graduating students from seeking jobs abroad

Written by Clement Idoko, Abuja
Monday, December 6, 2010

THE authorities of the African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja, have barred its graduating students from seeking and obtaining jobs abroad or risk withdrawal of certificate.



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The Chair, Board of Directors of the University and Managing Director, World Bank Group, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who handed down this warning to the graduating students at the second convocation ceremony of the university in Abuja, at the weekend, said: "I want you to know that we are going to track you."

A total of 43 postgraduate students were awarded various M.Sc Degrees in the five streams of Computer Science, seven graduates, Pure and Applied Maths 12, Petroleum Engineering 15, Theoretical Physics, four, and Material Sciences and Engineering, five graduates.

Okonjo-Iweala vowed that a comprehensive database would be established for all the graduating students of the institution with a view to tracking them in case anyone of them would want to abandon Africa for other parts of the world in search of job.

She reminded the graduating students that the university was established for a particular purpose, which was to train those who would give back to the African continent.

AUST, as the first of the world-class institution, was established as the centre of excellence by the Nelson Mandela Institution (NMI) to produce needed scientists, knowledge building and advancement of science and technology in the sub-Saharan Africa.

koruji:

Did they pay for them to do this degree?

Even if they were paid this is absolute bunkum - can't believe this is coming from someone as erudite as Okonjo-Iweala.

Let's see who will stop them!!!

Akin-Egba:

I think the students studied with scholarship and the reason for establishing AUST is clear. When you get certain scholarships, you are required to work for the organization (or in this case, where they allow you to work) for sometime. Actually, with the courses offered in that university, one is better of staying back in Africa where one will be more useful, earn good money and spend less. At AUST, you need $15 K per annum and I am sure they got some, if not full uni scholarship

said: "I want you to know that we are going to track you."

DapoBear:

Absolutely no way this is enforceable.

Better tactic is to hook up graduates with companies in Nigeria/Africa. They'll stay if they can find well-paying jobs on the continent, and leave if they cannot.

Akin-Egba:

It is enforceable, depending on the agreement with the govt (immigration). They may stop them from getting int passport or cause that visas are not issued them unless with some approval from somebody. In Ethiopia, this happens under similar circumstances. I believe they will get good jobs in Africa based on the nature of their studies- high tech stuff.

If somebody coughed up 15 K USD, for you it is only fair that you at least contribute to the immediate society.

Akin-Egba:

They will also need references/recommendations for jobs and will definitely need that from their graduating uni or professors. That is one way of ''catching'' them too.

DapoBear:

AUST is a privately run organization, not a gov't owned one, yes? If so, then absolutely no chance of them preventing anyone from getting a passport. Best case is that they can sue.
Oh, I agree. I'm not saying someone skipping the country would be fair, ethical, etc. But it is certainly possible for the students to do.
Nope. For graduate school, yes. But just to get a job? Generally not the case. You submit a resume, transcript, then do some sort of interview. People don't make hiring decisions based on the opinions of professors, at least the companies I've interviewed at and interned for.

Akin-Egba:

There are opportunities in Africa and I wish I got such a scholarship when I was studying.

Actually, there may not be any jobs for them abroad because there is really nothing they know that the west does not know, coupled with high unemployement in the West.

DapoBear:

Sponsor doesn't mean they have the power to deny you visa. Again, whatever beef a student has with the university is between those two parties, not the federal gov't, immigration, etc.

In any case, isn't the issue more of getting the visa from the target country? Like, if you have your Nigerian passport and want to go to the US, then you need to get a visa from the US, not say some sort of Nigerian gov't organization, correct? I'm not familiar with the process, so am just guessing; correct me if I'm wrong.
Is this true, though? Why are there so many unemployed graduates in Nigeria, if so?
Nah, there are plenty of jobs in the west. Unemployment is low, and companies like hiring entry-level guys who are relatively affordable compared to more senior guys who command lots of money.

Akin-Egba:

They do not have the power to deny you a visa. But they can instigate that visa be denied you. Often the embassies in Nigeria work with Nigerian govt (police, immigration) if there is doubt about any applicant. You also need certain documents to approach the embassy and perhaps one of those may be from your uni.

May be not in Nigeria, but in Ethiopia, you are physically stopped at the airport if involved in such case. Your parents could be made to sign an agreement which was what happened to my own immediate younger brother who was trained by the LNG for his MSc in production engineering in the UK. My family signed an agreement to refund some huge amount of money if my brother did not work for them for at least two years. He has been there now for 5 years because the pay is great.

On Nigerian graduates, most of them are ill-trained and thus unqualified for the 21st century challenges. These AUST guys appear to be different.

Many americans, including professors, are jobless. I think they have 9+% unemployement there. Any jobs now is for Americans first and foremost.

Not true at all.  Britain is sending Nigerians/others back home and tightening their foreign quota. So it is hard out there too.

Who knows. Color me skeptical. If this were the gov't involved, then I might agree. But I doubt the US embassy is going to deny you a visa simply because of some dispute you have with a university you graduated from. Unless it is made into some sort of legal matter (i.e., the school takes you to court), then I don't think they'd have a leg to stand on.

Akin-Egba:

They do not have the power to deny you a visa. But they can instigate that visa be denied you. Often the embassies in Nigeria work with Nigerian govt (police, immigration) if there is doubt about any applicant. You also need certain documents to approach the embassy and perhaps one of those may be from your uni.

May be not in Nigeria, but in Ethiopia, you are physically stopped at the airport if involved in such case. Your parents could be made to sign an agreement which was what happened to my own immediate younger brother who was trained by the LNG for his MSc in production engineering in the UK. My family signed an agreement to refund some huge amount of money if my brother did not work for them for at least two years. He has been there now for 5 years because the pay is great.

On Nigerian graduates, most of them are ill-trained and thus unqualified for the 21st century challenges. These AUST guys appear to be different.

Many americans, including professors, are jobless. I think they have 9+% unemployement there. Any jobs now are for Americans first and foremost. Britain is sending Nigerians/others back home and tightening their foreign quota. So it is hard out there too.

DapoBear:

Fine, track me. But how do you prevent me from getting a work visa abroad, especially if some company in the US/Canada/Europe has given me an offer? How do you convince the embassies of those countries from denying me the visa? Something they'll almost 100% give me if I've been given a job offer?

DapoBear:

Fine, track me. But how do you prevent me from getting a work visa abroad, especially if some company in the US/Canada/Europe has given me an offer? How do you convince the embassies of those countries from denying me the visa? Something they'll almost 100% give me if I've been given a job offer?

Kobojunkie:

If it was not part of the term of the scholarship, it is not enforceable and no embassy is going to try to get itself into helping any government or persons with such. Even in Nigeria, you cannot shackle people just because you helped pay their way through school, unless they agreed to giving you such power over them.

Akin-Egba:

This is Nigeria not America. Your passport can be declared forged (or something) especially if the govt gets involved which is possible since their money is also involved in your training. Get of your utopia, face the Nigerian reality where the govt is the king. The only thing I see is that these guys will get jobs in Nigeria or elsewhere in Africa (e.g., South Africa or some oil-producing countries of Africa). If it gets worse they can adopt the Ethiopian style: stop you at the point of exit with some flimsy excuse.

DapoBear:

How is a private university invoking government powers? How is this university declaring my passport forged, for example?

Akin-Egba:

Well, we do not know all the specifics/details and I believe Ngozi Okonjo Iweala will not be talking such if nothing is at stake.

Kobojunkie:

Sure, we do not know all specifics but Okonjo or not, no one can cage another without a prior agreement allowing such. She is not above the law in any country.

Akin-Egba:

Not the university, but the govt whose money was involved in training you. Of course those are examples I just gave. The govt can find just about anything to instigate you being refused a visa. The fact is we do not have all the details on which basis the woman gave the warning/advise.

Akin-Egba:

Those guys will get jobs in NNPC/LNG/SHELL/Agip/Chevron/Mobil, etc. They are few number of graduates as you can read from the list and not all are Nigerians. The non-Nigerians can find something in their own countries or elsewhere.

DapoBear:

So you are saying that the AUST (a private organization) will ask the Nigerian gov't to ask the US embassy/consulate to block someone from getting a visa, and somehow the embassy will comply?

Let us temporarily accept that the AUST has this influence. Even with this assumption, I think that unless the Nigerian gov't makes up some false legal/criminal issue, then this scenario doesn't seem plausible. The Nigerian gov't is mighty, but not mighty enough to tell the US embassy what to do without justification.