Our graduates are ready for workplace – Nile VC

The Vice Chancellor of Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, Professor Huseyin Sert, says graduates of the university are put through a process that sees them come out prepared for the world of work.

Nile University of Nigeria has become a popular destination for students looking for a range of scholarships. Why?

Twenty per cent of our students are on scholarship and we have decided to increase the number this year. The scholarships are offered to bright and talented students that scored the highest marks in UTME and 12 out of the 100 candidates with the highest scores were admitted into various courses in this university. Top talents from low-income families and other minority groups have a chance to study here through scholarships.

We offer scholarship to secondary school students that earned best grades in their school certificate exam as well as sport scholarships to student-athletes. Beneficiaries either enjoy full or partial scholarships. Partial is between 20 and 10 per cent of fees and 50 per cent of our students are beneficiaries. Students that obtain above 300 marks in UTME are given full scholarships and those with marks below 300 are placed in different groups of partial scholarships. We carry out enough publicity and visit secondary schools to enlighten students about the scheme.

Again, our first class graduates are offered full scholarships for postgraduate studies.

This university follows all admission policies set by regulatory agencies and our international students from about 30 countries have met all the admission regulations including those in their respective countries. Candidates with professional sports license in swimming, table tennis etc are considered for admission and this year we admitted six students from national sport teams including basket ball players.

Apart from first degree courses, do you have permission to run postgraduate programmes?

We have seven faculties including College of Health Sciences, faculties of law, management sciences, engineering, social sciences and sciences as well as Postgraduate School. Under these faculties, we have 17 active programmes approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and related bodies such as Nigerian Law School, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN). This implies that students from this university are prepared for the workplace and may easily find jobs after graduation.

We have qualified lecturers in our Postgraduate School from about 20 countries that handle master’s, postgraduate diplomas and PhD’s.

You recently organised your 3rd Entrepreneurship Trade Fair (ETF). Was it meant to increase the capacities and skills of your students?

This year, we had entrepreneurs among our graduands and the fair was a good opportunity for them to learn from professional bodies and also show their entrepreneurship capacity. We worked with the Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ABUCCIMA) and the Nigerian Economic Society (NES) in organising the fair.

The recent trade fair will solve the economic challenges facing young graduates. I don’t believe in teaching entrepreneurship skills alone without practice. Many people came from outside to buy things from our students and we are happy.

Too many graduates are said to be finding the labour market tougher than the classroom. What is this university doing to make its graduates employable?

Students in various departments go on education trips to learn more about different professions and garner ideas - for example economics students visit the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), ABUCCIMA and Ministry of Finance. They also attend sixmonth industrial training with private entities to improve their skills and by the time they graduate from the university, they have already obtained adequate knowledge of the system and contacts. We have good relationships with senior advocates and judges and we invite them to talk to our law students. Students also visit courts to learn.

We are also in touch with our alumni association and businessmen in finding relevant work experience and opportunities for students. The university organizes industrial training for science students and many students from the departments of computer science, biology and biotechnology are benefitting from the arrangements. For engineering courses, we have the Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) in which students learn how to build, make power supply units. They learn trade skills at workshops.

So, I believe our graduates are employable and they can employ people. Our classes are structured in such a way that they are coupled with practical training and because the students are not too many, we have labs, where they learn a lot. From the feedback I get, I know a company that would not mind employing our computer science and engineering students any time.

You are among the private universities that set up engineering and medical sciences departments. What were the initial challenges?

New universities are not running engineering and medical courses at the initial stage because they are very expensive since you need more equipment, classrooms and labs. They are not cost effective, because you spend more than you make. It is easy to run arts and humanities and admit students but it is the commitment of this university to run medical and engineering courses for the benefit of Nigerians. Our medical students are in 200 Level and last year we established seven laboratories for them. This year, we shall set up four additional labs and equip them to approved standards. These labs include anatomy, physiology, hematology; pharmacology etc and we believe Nigeria deserves the best medical labs.

For engineering, too, every year we establish new labs and we have the best civil engineering labs. This year, we are buying new equipment for petroleum and gas, electrical and electronics as well as computer science labs. We are producing quality graduates that ready for the workplace and who would serve Nigerians well.

A software company gave licenses worth $2.1 million to students of the Petroleum and Gas Engineering Department recently. How would that help them?

The company has established a fantastic library and we are using hundreds of books and other electronic material from there. They donated the licenses to us because they know our contribution to national growth and we have a highly regarded partnership with the Nigerian Petroleum Society, NES, COREN, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and many universities. We believe this partnership is for the benefit of all parties and especially our students. The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has been sending students to our computer science department on scholarships. The agency offers master’s and PhD scholarships to Nigerians and we are among the few private universities it sends students to.

How do you expect of your students and graduates?

We have a policy of zero tolerance against drugs, alcohol and other bad behaviours. We have a highly effective teaching and learning environment. We expect our students and graduates to act in a respectful and mature manner. We enjoy a positive parent-teacher relationship and that explains why we haven’t got empty spaces in our hostels. We monitor students’ learning progress and behaviour and teach positive behaviour to make students responsible citizens. The university maintains religious tolerance and teaches anti-corruption education to enable students fight any form of corruption.