INRTU delegation visits Nigeria for the first time
A delegation from INRTU visited Nigeria for the first time on April 15-25. The delegation, headed by Vice Rector for International Affairs Stepan Bykov, included Anna Melenteva, head of International Affairs Department, Klimentiy Batoroev, advisor to the Vice Rector for International Affairs, and Grigory Belousov, specialist of International Admission Office.
The team visited three major cities in Nigeria (Abuja, Ibadan and Lagos). The key goal of the visit was to establish contacts with recruitment agencies, and to develop cooperation on science and education with the leading Nigerian universities: National Open University of Nigeria, the University of Ibadan, the University of Lagos and Covenant University.
Stepan Bykov, Vice Rector for International Affairs, also visited the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Matters related to the admission of Nigerian citizens to Irkutsk Technical University, issuance of visas and students' further entry into Russia were discussed during the meeting with Assistant to the Ambassador, Attaché for Science and Culture Yuri Paramonov and Head of Consular Department, Mikhail Eremeev.
According to Stepan Bykov, colleagues from Nigerian universities told that INRTU is the first Russian university which sent delegation to Nigeria to establish partnerships after the pandemic:
"We found out that it is very complicated for Russian citizens to obtain a business visa to Nigeria. Entry by tourist visa or visa upon arrival in Nigeria is now abolished, so we applied for a business visa. The process of collecting documents and their subsequent review at the Consulate took more than 1.5 months.
In some sense, our trip can be called a real expedition. We worked on expanding the list of partner universities in Abuja, Lagos and Ibadan, and established links with Russian language departments in two most popular Nigerian universities. During the meetings we discussed many areas of cooperation, including academic mobility of students, prospects of launching dual degree programs, and training courses for Nigerian teachers of Russian as a foreign language at INRTU."
Stepan Bykov noted that the demand for studying in Russia among Nigerian students is very high, and the training conditions and certain advantages offered by INRTU arouse keen interest among applicants.
Anna Melenteva emphasized that the largest community of African students in Irkutsk Technical University is represented by the citizens of Nigeria. Currently, more than 80 Nigerian students study at the university.
"The native language in Nigeria is English; so many Nigerian students are attracted to our English-language programs, because in this case students do not need to learn Russian at the preparatory course.
We learned from student recruitment agencies that many Nigerian students want not only to study abroad, but also to move to another country. In this regard, Russia is a very attractive location for them. Since 2023, foreign students in Russia can obtain a temporary residence permit for educational purposes, which gives them the opportunity to apply for a residence permit in Russia.
Study opportunities offered by Russian education in general and Irkutsk Technical University in particular get student recruitment agencies very interested. Now we hope that the current admission campaign will bring us more prospective students from Nigeria."
A video "Nigerian Students about INRTU" was shot before the trip. Grigory Belousov said that the video was shown at the meetings with the representatives of Nigerian universities and student recruitment agencies:
"It was a pleasant surprise for Nigerian partners to see a friendly community of their compatriots at our university. Many agencies also noted that the arrival of the university delegation in Nigeria will help to increase the level of trust to the university among applicants in the future."
Klimentiy Batoroev noted that the delegation was warmly welcomed by the universities and agencies in Nigeria.
"There is a high demand in Nigeria for affordable higher education abroad, and the cost of academic programs at our university is 3-5 times cheaper than in many other countries. None of the agencies we visited had previously worked with Russian universities, but they all agreed to start cooperation with INRTU. Our new partners noted the affordability and attractive conditions of accommodation on campus and the opportunity to get a tuition discount based on the results of entrance exams."
84 students from Nigeria are studying at Irkutsk Technical University in 2022/23 academic year. The most popular academic program in English is "Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science". Most students study at the preparatory course and then enroll in Russian-language bachelor and master degree programs.
REFERENCE: Nigeria has the largest population of any African country, with 210 million people as of 2020. Nigeria is also Africa's largest economy in terms of GDP. More than two thousand Nigerian students enroll in Russian universities each year.
