By Joseph Ebitibi Kanjo
Mr. Ogundeji Babajide, Regional Manager for Africa, Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom, UK, says he brought the Institution to Benin and Nigeria at large to meet with potential students who are looking forward to studying in the UK, and to offer them what he referred to as the ‘Aston advantage.’
He added that, at Aston University, they do not just teach students for knowledge but they raise their students for employability, adding that the school graduates are those who are “able to the go into the work world within six months after graduation.”
Babajide who disclosed this Wednesday in Benin at an interactive session with journalists, said priority of the University management as far as sub-Sahara Africa is concerned in education at the moment are: Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, adding that Nigeria has the lion share.
Speaking on the University’s ranking in the UK, the Regional Manager said Aston University was ranked the University of the year by The Guardian, UK and best Entrepreneur University of the year by Times Higher Education, he said they are top universities ranking organisations in the UK.
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Further giving breakdown of the University ranking, Babajide said: “Our employability ranking is about 96% in the UK. And our students satisfaction Ranking is 88%. At Aston, one year work placement is part of the programme. We are the first UK University to offer work placement to students and we have been doing this for the last 50years.”
He continues, “Overseas students on a course at degree level or above may work for a maximum of 20 hours per week during term time and 40 hours during their university vacation periods (dates can vary depending on the course).”
On scholarship the school offers to students, Babajide said at this period of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Aston University deemed it fit to offer scholarship to potentially students ranging from €10,000 to €2,000 depending on the level and course.
He said, “To this effect, we are offering students up to €10,000 scholarship to study at Aston and I can tell you with all sense of modesty that within the last one year, we have had a good number of Nigerian students who have been awarded €8,000, €2,000 ,€5,000 scholarships as part of fees discount at Aston. So, for students who have a first class, they can get automatic scholarship of €5,000 called Global Intervention Scholarship. For those who have 2.1 grade, they can get €2,000. But for those who have 2:2 grade, they can apply for €3,000 Global Ambassador scholarship or the VC Scholarship.
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“For the Global Ambassador Scholarship, we have a cap of 25. But for the Global Excellence Scholarship, there is no cap. If you have a first class you get €5,000; if you have 2:1, you get €2,000, so there is no cap on that.
“In fact, we advise matured students whether they have 2:2 or not but have rich years of work experience to apply for the VC Scholarship. So, for the VC scholarship, we are not looking at students with top academic grade but student who have work experience and can be a representative of the university. People who have made impact in their careers.”
Speaking on how potential students could easily get their Visa to study at Aston, the Regional Manager said, “On visa, at Aston, we have a visa compliance team on campus and their work is to guide students in their visa application. In addition to that, in Nigeria Aston opened a regional office late last year in Lagos. We also have a network of agents across the the country. The role of these agents is to guide our students in their Visa application. We pay them to help our students. And I can tell you that, for the students we have guided through in our Lagos office, we have recorded 100% Visa application success.”
He said the University is already at the verge of having a successful partnership with some top Nigerian universities, adding that Aston University has also receive the go ahead from the National Universities Commission, NUC.
The Regional Manager there advised those willing to study at Aston University, Birmingham, UK to visit:
www.aston.ac.uk/current-students/hub/iss/visas/work-after-study/
