The quality of Nigerian graduate and their foreign counterpart, In a thread i open recently, the thread was about to be derail by the "error correcting posters". Let's discuss, does one studying abroad make you better than those that study in Nigeria.

Not necessarily. I know a lot of Naija graduates that are as competitive as most of the foreign trained graduates I have met abroad, whether Naijans or Oyinbos. Besides medicine and engineering, the only foreign trained graduates that may be completely better than the Naija trained graduates are those that were very competitive while in Naija, To mouth the popular cliche, a lizard in Lagos cannot be a crocodile in London! As an illustration, Adeoti Olatubosun made the highest score in the history of JAMB in 2000, He was admitted into my alma mata and was among the top 0.5% in his first year engineering class. He left after the first year, went ahead, did SAT and eventually became the highest scorer in Africa and one of the best in the world that year. He proceeded to MIT in the US and was among the very best in his EE/Comp. Sc/Engr class even until graduation. He has since been with, Make I no talk. So, you see my point, You need to be good in Naija.

The positive aspect of studying abroad is the exposure that you will eventually get to different kinds of people and global opportunities. For instance, a good MBA degree from a decent business school could enable you work for top companies you never dreamt possible to work for. You could also make quality contacts that would enable you succeed as a business man anywhere in the world.

In my case, I have had and currently have colleagues from at least 30 different countries. This 'international exposure' is what foreign education will give you.

Plus you are very likely to polish your accent, learn, speak and write better, but not completely perfect, English

Thank you for that incisive analysis, environment will truly affect one capacity but at the same time individual capacity will be the dominant factors.

blah blah blah, alma mata

alma mat[i]er[/i]

which one be alma mata again

abeg make una leave mata for mathias jor!

afterall many foreign graduates dey come ask me to employ them for my shop for ASPANDA

you funny o

@olawalebab,

The quality of Nigerian graduate and their foreign counterpart, In a thread i open recently, the thread was about to be derail by the "error correcting posters". Let's discuss, does one studying abroad make you better than those that study in Nigeria.

Going by the construct of your statement, I take it that you are a product of the Nigerian school system. What more do we need to discuss? Enough said already!!!!!!

let put it this way, all the putting who have manage nigeria economy and others. have been foreign graduate, and I can tell you, they mostly failed. Look take example Ngozi iweala. she is a failure as finance minister. Why do I say so. No economist in the world, would kill entrepreneurship  and introduce Monopoly in the banking sector.

Ngozi iweala killed nigeria economy. Making a banking list does not matter, but understand how world economy work. Even they may claim she is with the world bank. I can tell you,she never manage the nigeria banking sector the way it is manage over here.

The reason why foreign trained nigerian graduate dont do well in nigeria. Is acclimatization to the society want and lack of understaning of nigeria society. You can see people asking me stupid question.

We can name many in nigeria. having both experience with be the best.

let put it this way, all the people who have manage nigeria economy and others. have been foreign graduate, and I can tell you, they mostly failed. Look take example Ngozi iweala. she is a failure as finance minister. Why do I say so. No economist in the world, would kill entrepreneurship and introduce Monopoly in the banking sector.

Ngozi iweala killed nigeria economy. Making a banking list does not matter, but understand how world economy work. Even they may claim she is with the world bank. I can tell you,she never manage the nigeria banking sector the way it is manage over here.

The reason why foreign trained nigerian graduate dont do well in nigeria. Is acclimatization to the society want and lack of understaning of nigeria society. You can see people asking me silly question.

We can name many in nigeria. having both experience with be the best.

I agree with what tanimola22 said. In addition to that, if it wasn’t true that the average foreign trained graduate is “better”, then Africans won’t be complaining about brain drain. Mind you, I not necessarily saying that studying abroad makes you better, I’m only suggesting that it is more likely that the brightest minds Africa has to offer already seeked greener pastures abroad because they easily passed all the entrance exams (SAT, GMAT, GRE, TOFL etc) needed.

In other words, there’s an argument to be made that the “most fit” Africans are “surviving” by traveling abroad.

look the people constructing the eko city , dont know lagos is below sea level. in their design, they never calculated that. And they never knew that implication of what will happen to lagos. When a city is below sea level. If you push back the sea. It is directly proportional to increase your flood probability. They are increase the the chance of flood in lagos.

Lets not get it twisted, we're all Nigerians, there is a definite knowledge gap that is bridged and level of exposure you attain when u school abroad (in a top sch oh!, lol) that u can not get in back home, no matter your academic prowess. Now some of us may point to some of exceptions to my premise, that doesn't mean i'm not right. (that's why its called "exceptions" , think about it)

@ P

The difference is the environment within which each of then studied. Many Nigerian Graduates graduate without being able to buy a single textbook for their course of study, they struggle to feed, talkless of owning a laptop but foreign graduates have ample access to everything he needs to study with. In Nigeria, it is learning with tears!

Because nigeria graduate does not rank among the first 1000 does not mean his graduate are poor.

dramenda:

@ POSTER,Which nigeria university is ranked among the world 5000 best?so no basis for comparison,

i'll take foreign graduates not becos they are smarter but becos they have global exposure. they've seen how successful systems operate and have been exposed to different world cultures.

olawalebab:

The quality of Nigerian graduate and their foreign counterpart, In a thread i open recently, the thread was about to be derail by the "error correcting posters". Let's discuss, does one studying abroad make you better than those that study in Nigeria.

judging by this thread, they certainly have plenty of work to do

Mr Olawelebab,I see you complaining about 'error correcting posters',don't you think an exceptional (ok exceptional might be stretching it but good) command of the English language should be a prerequisite of every Nigerian graduate? The diction,grammar & spelling blunders of Nigerian graduates leave much to be desired,it's even more appalling to hear the much touted phrase; 'English is not our language'.Most disheartening I must add.

whew, at least you typed counterpart and counterpant.

The Differences between a Nigerian Graduate and a Foreign Graduate are too numerous and i would just mention a few

Self Development: For a Graduate in the western world to fit into any sector of today's competitive business environment, he/she is aware that Self development is inevitable, thus Foreign Graduates take up certification courses in core areas of competence, upgrade communication skills both verbal and written as the importance of this factor can not be overemphasized, in the process of self development foreign graduates become flexible and more receptive to new ideas. This is at variance at what is obtainable in many Nigerian graduates, who are trained to be too rigid, and speaking from experience posses abysmal communication skills. Many Nigerian graduates complain of unemployment, but has anyone taken time to review their resumes? Disappointment is an understatement for how you would feel after the review, varying from sentence construction to methodology, you would be appalled . Many Nigerian graduates are simply Unemployable and Un-trainable in today's competitive business world.

Practical Learning: This is a huge gulf between both sets of Graduates, the Nigerian system of education which Churns out Half Baked Graduates is built around cramming theoretical knowledge, without practical application of the theories crammed, this is a total difference from their Foreign Counterpart, who is trained and educated to assimilate and properly digest knowledge rather than cramming, he is exposed to first hand practicals of theoretical knowledge assimilated during classes and discussions, he is given a free hand to practicalize what he/she has learnt in class, this not only raises his confidence but also his inquisitiveness to learn more.

Global Exposure: The Foreign graduate is trained on the most recent global perspective of Business, Medicine, Engineering, which is applicable in any economy, he/she is up to date, Nigerian graduates are still struggling to assimilate perspectives of the 18th and 19th century, the smart ones are learning more on the web, rather than listen to folk tales of the 18th and 19th century from their lecturers,

i meant you typed counterpart, not counterpant.

olawalebab, ranking of universities does not mean a thing. Look which Universities did Ngozi Iweala went to. That university should not be proud of her. Why do I say so. Before Ngozi Iweala became finance minister. Nigeria had more than 50 banks. But today Nigeria has just about 10. In term of jobs lost. I cant not tell you the level of damage Ngozi iweala have done.

There are more elements to this factors that make the foreign trained excel than their counter part in Nigeria.
1.Most Nigeria Universities do not have founding for research that could enable them meet current global demand.
2. Electricity a major problem: No power for computers and many educational training machine.
3. Internet is another luxury in Nigeria
4. Equipment: Training equipment like medical equipment in the hospital, computer for students, text book etc
5. Poorly trained instructor: Poorly trained graduate from Nigeria university becoming instructor
6. No cross examination on instructors: Many universities do not check if their instructors are teaching according to syllabus or having knowledge impactation on their student
7. Poverty: Empty stomach can not make the brain to hold knowledge impacted
8. Fewer or no foreign exchange student (globalization drainage)
9. Corruption training instructors: Poorly paid instructors have turned universities to corruption universities training future corrupt leaders
10. No reward for good work: lecturer and students performance recognition award( few or no scholarship)

Among others, They all contribute to the failure of local trained graduates

olawalebab, ranking of universities does not mean a thing. Look which Universities did Ngozi Iweala went to. That university should not be proud of her. Why do I say so. Before Ngozi Iweala became finance minister. Nigeria had more than 50 banks. But today Nigeria has just about 10. In term of jobs lost. I cant not tell you the level of damage Ngozi iweala have done.

@musiwa
Reading your reply is enough proof that you are certainly too inept to judge her performance in Nigeria or at the World Bank, I would not be drawn into an argument with you over an issue an unborn baby already knows.

then you dont know anything about running an economy. you want to create more job and business in an economy and not reduce job and business. When you shut down a business or bank. you shut down the engine room of an economy. Dr Ngozi iweala has failed even her teacher. Go ask any economist in the world. even the USA kill monopoly

it is very clear,
even as a 9ja graduate when searching 4 job in 9ja,
companies collect graduate from uk and us b4 collect 9ja graduate.

Nigerian graduates rely mainly on luck to exhibit what they've learnt so far, whereas their overseas counterparts are encouraged by the government, society and private businesses to be at their best by providing monetary compensation, opportunity for advancement and a healthy work environment. Let's face it, majority of Nigerian students who studied geology, philosophy, psychology and even mathematics are doomed because the Job environment in Nigeria does not allow for such discipline, otherwise how do we explain, someone who studied geology, working as a cashier at the bank and someone who studied mathematics, working as an actor, the Nigerian government has failed its people that's why the best of the best have opted for solace in foreign countries.

Well, I am not sure the question is whether foreign trained are better or not.
It is a question about openness to new ideas, exposure and opportunities.
I have met naija grads who exceled in Nigeria but didnt do
too well when they got to top schools in the UK, for example for graduate school.
There is this girl dat finished with a 2:1 in OAU but couldnt compete
when she got to Uni of Edinburgh. Not because she wasnt smart but because
the coursework was extremely beyond her and there wasnt that much time to play catch up.
The grad school was doin econometrics, quant methods and using stata software
to do forecasting she had never in her life done before or not done at such a level.
She managed to pull out a C in grad school sha, but she probably would have improved to A
given another yr.

But passing or failing though important is not even the point sha.
It is about intelligence. I have a friend who finished from a US school (infact
plenty of them) that behave as if they never left d shores of naija.
Nigerians abroad especially those who are from rich homes dont mix
much with foreigners, though they mostly do well in school,
they dont expose themselves to debate with their peers abroad to
see new ways of thinking.
Fine, so u go to class, write an exam and pass, but u spend most of ur time
with only naija friends who only think about their parents illgotten money,
buyin d latest louboutons and stuff like dat, American kids though think similarly about
these things (naturally we young ppl are materialistic), but american kids
challenge statusquo, their think beyond now, dey discuss ideas,
ask why thinks are the way they are and they want to change it,
I believe it is this type of attitude that creates improvement and innovation
Not whether u r foreign trained or not.
The real question is, are we getting enough exposure? Are looking more and seeing less? or vice versa

there is even a funny one where this naija guy finished atop his class in Comp science in Naija.
went to a top school in Europe for MBA, and is now back in naija working.
His mentality is still crap upon all his exposure and brilliance.
I mean all this guy talks about when you sit with him is how he has hammered.
How he met with a senator last nite, how he is meetin with house of rep tomorrow, etc.
The same cycle of corruption, it is like he is soo book smart; but his level of intelligence/sophistication
is not soo up there. but that is just my opinion though,
But we do have Nigerians dat mix with d right pppl abroad sha, learn to innovate,
bring new ideas home, and are change agents wherever they go, including Nigeria.
Many are quite young actually (i will name names later).

If Nigerian Graduates are so backwards, not a single one will ever get a job, let alone do well at it abroad.

I have many friends doing well at their jobs in US, UK and other places, though they studied here, and I'm sure
I'm not the only one who does around here.

I have worked and still work with expatriates in Nigeria, and, believe me, there's nothing so fabulous about them.

In a profession like Engineering where the theory learnt from school is not far from the practical on the field, you'll
find that anyone who really paid attention in school will do well at home or abroad.

In medicine, I must say Nigerian hospitals are bad mainly due to poor infrastructure, not poor personnel. When there's
no functional MRI scanner or Emergency Room gadgets for example, how can a Doctor correctly diagnose internal injury?

How the nation works is also another matter. What do our values hold as success? Money! Get rich or gerrout! As a result,
we miss it right from school. In a foreign University, everything's available, so you can face what you're really there for. in
Naija, students are hustlers. Will you blame them? A few still manage to face their studies against all odds, and such ones
even end up doing well abroad.

My point? graduating from a Nigerian university does have its disadvantages, but if you are determined to succeed, you will.
Foreign graduates do come back to Naija and end up competing with their Nigerian colleagues. If they were much better, they
would be superstars in their places of work.