This discussion is not about you; if you are lucky to have a rich family to send you abroad for studies and support you while there. Nor is it about you that won scholarship(s) (tuition and living expenses all covered). It is also not for you, rich business executive, who want to further your education and have the means to do it without losing your livelihood. It is for you, who have worked hard for years and have saved enough money that is either only enough to allow you start the programme you have applied for or can sustain you through entire course. It is also for you, whose parents want to use their life-savings or borrowed-money to send you abroad for an MSc.

Before I proceed, I have a disclosure to make; I have a Master of Engineering Management from University of Wollongong, Australia. I don’t want to sound hypocritical. But we need to examine the facts – according to my personal experiences and understanding of how things work.

As an international student who wants to procure a higher degree, the relationship that exists between you and your prospective school abroad is that of a buyer (you) and a seller (the school) – a school is a business enterprise. And the service to procure is the knowledge the school will impact during the course of your study with them. Whether or not the knowledge, in itself, is useful for you on the grand scheme of things, is another talk all together. But remember, you are buying something the school is selling – knowledge. Therefore, let’s begin to reason together. And we will have to focus on cost, benefits, and goal.

Let me also state that, it is not all schools abroad that are recorgnised (even in Nigeria) and accredited in their home countries, therefore, one has to be careful in choosing schools.

COST

Picking up a master’s degree from any good school in the USA, Canada, UK and Australia (or elsewhere) should cost you an average of $30,000 (NGN4,966,200) and above, depending on the course you want to study, the ranking of the school and its location. It could be a bit lesser than that amount and it could also be as high as $120,000 (NGN19,864,800) and even more if you want to pursue an MBA in some of the “top MBA schools” in the world. Let’s say this figure covers all expenses – application, acceptance fees (if applicable), visa procurement, air ticket, tuition and living expenses. So, the $30,000 (NGN4,966,200) is quite conservative.

Exception to this cost-rule are schools in Germany and some other European countries that are either of lower tuition fees or are tuition free.

BENEFITS

For me, one of main benefit of studying abroad is quite sociological. It opens one’s mind to the possibilities of a decent and comfortable living. Wherein life is given the deserved dignity and appreciation. One gets to see that societies could be organised and well-managed, people could be respected and treated with decency, and state officials could dispose their duties with humility and decency and so on.

On the academic side, learning materials are recent and relevant to the present-day world. Most of the lecturers understand that the relationship between you and them is that of “customer-and-sales-representative” and they take that relationship very seriously, because there is always an appraisal mechanism towards the end of the semester wherein you grade the lecturers’ performances.

There are assignments that expose you to proper academic writing and referencing styles. In the course of doing these assignments, you learn about how to do proper research work and give due credit to others’ works and efforts (avoiding plagiarism). Some of these research works are done in collaboration with other students and this gives you the opportunity to learn about and appreciate teamwork. One also learns how to present one’s ideas to people clearly through regular presentations.

Therefore, at the end of your programme, you would have become more academic and literate but not necessarily more educated (we can debate this controversy in future). And of course, you would then have a new certificate, and new academic title or appendage to your name (and it feels cool at the early stage).

GOAL

One of the major reasons that might prompt you to want to pursue a higher degree is to improve your earning potentials. This is more of a myth than reality. Research has shown that, if at all, one’s earning power would increase after a master’s degree, it is by at most 15% higher than one’s colleagues without an MSc. This scenario rarely occurs. And even at that, if you did not have any working experience before going for the MSc, you would have to start from the beginning of your career – a trainee. In real life, on-the-job experience is far superior than an MSc and most employers (if not all) understand this. Therefore, if you are in this category, you would be disappointed after your MSc.

For people in this category (someone who believes that MSc is an investment that enhances his/her earning power), I do not personally think you need an MSc. Stay on your job and continue acquiring experience. If you have such money saved-up, and there is a hunch to “invest” in yourself, look into starting a business (as a part-time thing) and watch it grow. Instead of travelling abroad to go and bless another man’s business (always remember that those schools are business enterprise themselves), start creating yours. Five million Naira (upwards) is a lot of money to invest in an MSc that wouldn’t really be of significant importance to the grand scheme of things – growth and happy life.

Another reason people go for an MSc is to broaden their understanding of their chosen field of career. If you are in this category, whether or not you earn more than your colleagues because of your MSc, you would still find fulfilment in having that MSc. Close to this, are people pursuing their MSc as a prerequisite to achieving a PhD and are not really interested in having industry experience – they just want to teach and/or do research. To these set of people, completing their MSc means they are a step closer to their goal.

People also desire to go study abroad as a relocation strategy into a country of choice. This is not a bad idea since our leaders have refused to improve the living condition in Nigeria. Yes, schooling is about the best way to gain entrance into most foreign countries. If your papers are genuine and you have your money, you have a very high chance of securing an entry permit. However, the mindset of going there, completing your MSc with the “certainty” of getting a “lucrative” job (or any job at all) is a big gamble. Don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a possibility of securing one.

However, the reality is that, job market, world all over, is becoming extremely competitive as most economies are becoming digitalised and thereby resulting into reduced requirement for labour plus there is a lot of qualified people competing for the little available openings. Besides this, most of these countries place priority on getting their citizens employed first before foreigners and there are policies in place to make sure companies comply.

So, before you go for that MSc programme abroad spend quality time on research. Ask yourself critical questions on what your real intentions are. You don’t want to spend your hard-earned money without fully understanding what you are about to get yourself into.

PS: THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON 26/10/2014 ON MY BLOG (jidezubair.). I HOPE THE MESSAGE IN IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO SOMEONE OUT THERE.

I wish you wrote something as lengthy as this before bagging a masters degree in Australia, it would have been a good show to compare your previous level of intelligence (If I may use that word) with your present state.

Your grammar is perfect, excellent coherence and concise point with no tergiversation. An average MSc holder in Nigeria can't write a paragraph without an error of some sort. Am not blaming anybody, but the system; it's rotten and I see no reason why future leaders should be bred in this rotten institution of ours.

If you want to add value to yourself, I strictly advise that you do all you can to study abroad, no matter how high the odds are, am damn sure it does worth it.

Good article from you. But i want to ask, after your Masters in Australia, what have you been doing and where are you presently?
#iwriteng. I concur with you. If you are opportune, you want to add value to yourself, kindly bag a post graduate degree abroad.
Though I will also say its not a certificate to make it in life. But it exposes and gives you some priviledges above others.
However, you have to know what you want in life. Know where you are going and ways to get there.
One thing in life that I desire is that when im old, I want to look back and be glad of the fulfilled life I have lived In all things and not only in material things

deleted

[color=#000099][/color]
It's so nice seeing your write up.
It's so educative and coherent and will surely help alot of people that are thinking of taking that step of studying abroad.
Keep up the good work of enlightenment with personal experiences and the good Lord will keep pushing you ahead of your peers.
PEACE!

@OP, Good Job.

I really enjoyed this piece OP. Thanks

Good thread.

What a flop less article ! Educative and informing. I am one of those who want to travel abroad for their masters . The reason for this is to have sound knowledge of my profession. My brother, there are schools offering information science in Nigeria without a single computer lab. Pls, what type of product would they produce ?
Since most of these western worlds are develop than us technologically, learning the trade then implement what u have learned to better ur home isn't a sin.

Wherever you are, I commend your write-up

This discussion is not about you; if you are lucky to have a rich family to send you abroad for studies and support you while there. Nor is it about you that won scholarship(s) (tuition and living expenses all covered). It is also not for you, rich business executive, who want to further your education and have the means to do it without losing your livelihood. It is for you, who have worked hard for years and have saved enough money that is either only enough to allow you start the programme you have applied for or can sustain you through entire course. It is also for you, whose parents want to use their life-savings or borrowed-money to send you abroad for an MSc.

Before I proceed, I have a disclosure to make; I have a Master of Engineering Management from University of Wollongong, Australia. I don’t want to sound hypocritical. But we need to examine the facts – according to my personal experiences and understanding of how things work.

As an international student who wants to procure a higher degree, the relationship that exists between you and your prospective school abroad is that of a buyer (you) and a seller (the school) – a school is a business enterprise. And the service to procure is the knowledge the school will impact during the course of your study with them. Whether or not the knowledge, in itself, is useful for you on the grand scheme of things, is another talk all together. But remember, you are buying something the school is selling – knowledge. Therefore, let’s begin to reason together. And we will have to focus on cost, benefits, and goal.

Let me also state that, it is not all schools abroad that are recorgnised (even in Nigeria) and accredited in their home countries, therefore, one has to be careful in choosing schools.

COST

Picking up a master’s degree from any good school in the USA, Canada, UK and Australia (or elsewhere) should cost you an average of $30,000 (NGN4,966,200) and above, depending on the course you want to study, the ranking of the school and its location. It could be a bit lesser than that amount and it could also be as high as $120,000 (NGN19,864,800) and even more if you want to pursue an MBA in some of the “top MBA schools” in the world. Let’s say this figure covers all expenses – application, acceptance fees (if applicable), visa procurement, air ticket, tuition and living expenses. So, the $30,000 (NGN4,966,200) is quite conservative.

Exception to this cost-rule are schools in Germany and some other European countries that are either of lower tuition fees or are tuition free.

BENEFITS

For me, one of main benefit of studying abroad is quite sociological. It opens one’s mind to the possibilities of a decent and comfortable living. Wherein life is given the deserved dignity and appreciation. One gets to see that societies could be organised and well-managed, people could be respected and treated with decency, and state officials could dispose their duties with humility and decency and so on.

On the academic side, learning materials are recent and relevant to the present-day world. Most of the lecturers understand that the relationship between you and them is that of “customer-and-sales-representative” and they take that relationship very seriously, because there is always an appraisal mechanism towards the end of the semester wherein you grade the lecturers’ performances.

There are assignments that expose you to proper academic writing and referencing styles. In the course of doing these assignments, you learn about how to do proper research work and give due credit to others’ works and efforts (avoiding plagiarism). Some of these research works are done in collaboration with other students and this gives you the opportunity to learn about and appreciate teamwork. One also learns how to present one’s ideas to people clearly through regular presentations.

Therefore, at the end of your programme, you would have become more academic and literate but not necessarily more educated (we can debate this controversy in future). And of course, you would then have a new certificate, and new academic title or appendage to your name (and it feels cool at the early stage).

GOAL

One of the major reasons that might prompt you to want to pursue a higher degree is to improve your earning potentials. This is more of a myth than reality. Research has shown that, if at all, one’s earning power would increase after a master’s degree, it is by at most 15% higher than one’s colleagues without an MSc. This scenario rarely occurs. And even at that, if you did not have any working experience before going for the MSc, you would have to start from the beginning of your career – a trainee. In real life, on-the-job experience is far superior than an MSc and most employers (if not all) understand this. Therefore, if you are in this category, you would be disappointed after your MSc.

For people in this category (someone who believes that MSc is an investment that enhances his/her earning power), I do not personally think you need an MSc. Stay on your job and continue acquiring experience. If you have such money saved-up, and there is a hunch to “invest” in yourself, look into starting a business (as a part-time thing) and watch it grow. Instead of travelling abroad to go and bless another man’s business (always remember that those schools are business enterprise themselves), start creating yours. Five million Naira (upwards) is a lot of money to invest in an MSc that wouldn’t really be of significant importance to the grand scheme of things – growth and happy life.

Another reason people go for an MSc is to broaden their understanding of their chosen field of career. If you are in this category, whether or not you earn more than your colleagues because of your MSc, you would still find fulfilment in having that MSc. Close to this, are people pursuing their MSc as a prerequisite to achieving a PhD and are not really interested in having industry experience – they just want to teach and/or do research. To these set of people, completing their MSc means they are a step closer to their goal.

People also desire to go study abroad as a relocation strategy into a country of choice. This is not a bad idea since our leaders have refused to improve the living condition in Nigeria. Yes, schooling is about the best way to gain entrance into most foreign countries. If your papers are genuine and you have your money, you have a very high chance of securing an entry permit. However, the mindset of going there, completing your MSc with the “certainty” of getting a “lucrative” job (or any job at all) is a big gamble. Don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a possibility of securing one.

However, the reality is that, job market, world all over, is becoming extremely competitive as most economies are becoming digitalised and thereby resulting into reduced requirement for labour plus there is a lot of qualified people competing for the little available openings. Besides this, most of these countries place priority on getting their citizens employed first before foreigners and there are policies in place to make sure companies comply.

So, before you go for that MSc programme abroad spend quality time on research. Ask yourself critical questions on what your real intentions are. You don’t want to spend your hard-earned money without fully understanding what you are about to get yourself into.

PS: THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST PUBLISHED ON 26/10/2014 ON MY BLOG (jidezubair.). I HOPE THE MESSAGE IN IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO SOMEONE OUT THERE. [/quote]

iwriterng:
I wish you wrote something as lengthy as this before bagging a masters degree in Australia, it would have been a good show to compare your previous level of intelligence (If I may use that word) with your present state.

Your grammar is perfect, excellent coherence and concise point with no tergiversation. An average MSc holder in Nigeria can't write a paragraph without an error of some sort. [b][/b]Am not blaming anybody, but the system; it's rotten and I see no reason why future leaders should be bred in this rotten institution of ours.

If you want to add value to yourself, I strictly advise that you do all you can to study abroad, no matter how high the odds are, am damn sure it does worth it.

It's obvious you are one of the poorly educated Nigerian M.sc holders. "Am" isn't the same as "I'm" . It's a shame a "graduate" doesn't know this.

weemee:
Good article from you. But i want to ask, after your Masters in Australia, what have you been doing and where are you presently?
#iwriteng. I concur with you. If you are opportune, you want to add value to yourself, kindly bag a post graduate degree abroad.
Though I will also say its not a certificate to make it in life. But it exposes and gives you some priviledges above others.
However, you have to know what you want in life. Know where you are going and ways to get there.
One thing in life that I desire is that when im old, I want to look back and be glad of the fulfilled life I have lived In all things and not only in material things

Exactly