The committee added that there was an urgent need to review the admission process into the country’s tertiary institutions as Nigeria scored low on the internationalisation index.
The committee, headed by a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Attahiru Jega, stated these in Abuja on Thursday at the submission of its report.
The report was presented to the JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede.
Jega recommended that the Federal Government should put in more efforts to ensure the safety and security of citizens and foreigners in the country.
He said, “In a survey of August 2019 by this committee on tertiary institutions in Nigeria, of the 194 institutions that responded, there were 1,856 foreign students out of the total 1,132,795 students.
“There were 437 foreign academic staff from a total of 5,604 academic staff in these institutions. Foreign students make up 0.18 per cent in universities, 0.29 per cent in polytechnics and 0.04 per cent in Colleges of Education. The percentage of all foreign students in Nigeria’s tertiary education system as of 2018/2019 session is 0.16 per cent.
“With regards to academic staff, the percentage of foreign academics in Nigerian universities is 0.008 per cent, 1.64 per cent in polytechnics and 0.18 per cent in Colleges of Education.
“This is an indication that the teaching staff in tertiary education system is largely dominated by Nigerian academics.”
Jega said that the essence of the report was to propose urgent actions to be taken by the country’s tertiary institutions to attract and retain both international students and academics.
He, therefore, called on JAMB to encourage the internalisation of tertiary institutions by promoting admission of foreign students.
The JAMB registrar said the board would look into the implementation of the document, saying the policy on internalisation of admission would be given the necessary consideration.
THE SUN, NIGERIA
