By BASHIR ADEFAKA
Adventurism, it is said, has percentage it takes in educational process.
A practice of this takes Saheed Oladele, a first class graduate of Linguistics from the University of Ibadan and Chief Executive Officer, Erudite Millennium Ltd, to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently, during which visit the new reality was discovered.
Oladele, who sent this to The DEFENDER on Friday, said he visited some universities in the gulf country, and shared his experience below:
“Today (Friday, Sept 9, 2022), I paid a visit to Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi. This is a university that gives full scholarships to international students but doesn’t reckon with WAEC. A doctor recently narrated how the university denied his daughter admission and scholarship because she presented WASSCE results!
“This implies that anyone coming from a WAEC background should forget studying in Khalifa University or benefiting from its full funding. My visit enabled me to make a strong case for WASSCE as a standard West African regional examination considering its wide accessibility in the US, UK and Canada but they said NO.
“What does Khalifa University want? Cambridge International Examinations or International Baccalaureate. What is Khalifa University ranking? 183rd best university in the world according to QS World Ranking (1st university in the UAE to make top 200 in the world).
“Beyond Cambridge, what else can boost chances of getting full funding? Java, Python, etc.”
He continued, “After getting satisfied at Khalifa, I went to scout for scholarships for Erudite students at Abu Dhabi University but I encountered the same challenge. Despite not having full scholarships and accepting a ‘d’ in Cambridge for admission, ADU is also saying NO to WAEC!”
Who will appeal to UAE to recognise WAEC now? Saheed Oladele asked.
Fielding questions from The DEFENDER, he said, “Students are expected to come in through Cambridge O’ Level, Cambridge AS’ Level and Cambridge A’ Level. These are the three things they want, and then knowledge of Python and Java,” Oladele told The DEFENDER from Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Asked what the implications are for educational development of Nigerian students and ability to inter-relate with that developed economy that is the destination of choice for the world in terms of everything as far as UAE is concerned, the Erudite Millennium boss provided a succour and a pathway.
“Everything such universities need is what we offer in Erudite Millennium Ltd because, once you come in, you can start with remedial O’ Level class, which is IGCSE O’ Level. From there, you move to Cambridge AS’ Level. From there, you move to Cambridge A’ Level.
“Then you do our fourth Industrial Revolution Programme, which is where we teach Java, Python, Robotics and some other relevant things.”
On whether it is not going to be a problem, he said, “It is problem because, a student that is not passing through Erudite may find it difficult to gain admission or get a scholarship to study in Khalifah University, Abou Dhabi and some other universities in the UAE.
“But if you come through Erudite, we are going to put you on the pathway to the institutions.”
