By Dipo Olowookere
Britain’s Coventry University has invited potential students to its open days across Nigeria next week to highlight the value a UK university education provides, particularly for those wanting to pursue a career in industries such as energy, or create their own jobs through a focus on innovation and enterprise.
Dr Babatunde Anifowose, a senior lecturer in Petroleum and Environmental Technology at Coventry University, will be on hand to meet open day attendees, and said that the future belonged to “forward-looking” graduates with technical and soft skills.
Graduates returning to Nigeria having studied undergraduate or postgraduate degrees such as those offered by Coventry in areas like oil and gas, engineering and computing will be able to adapt to the ever-changing local and global economy.
Attendees at the open days can also learn more about the enterprise and innovation activities in Coventry being taken forward through its International Centre for Transformational Entrepreneurship (ICTE), which offers courses in enterprise and runs workshops in-country with graduates and alumni.
The open days will take place in Lagos (Protea Hotel Select) on Friday 11 August; in Abuja (Newton Park Hotels Annex) on Saturday 12 August; and in Port Harcourt (Golden Tulip Hotel) on Sunday 13 August, with each event running from 3pm-6pm local time.
Open day attendees will be able to find out about a range of Coventry University bachelor’s and master’s courses, including Oil, Gas and Energy Management BSc (Hons); Petroleum and Environmental Technology MSc; Oil, Gas and Energy Law LLM; Mechanical Engineering MEng/BEng (Hons); Electrical and Electronic Engineering MSc; Computer Hardware and Software Engineering BEng (Hons); and Computer Science MSc.
In addition to the focus on enterprise and energy, the university will be providing insight into its UK work experience programme for overseas student, which sees a dedicated team support students to arrange work placements with local and regional organisations while they study in Coventry.
“The global energy industry is at a critical stage where rising energy demand and the clamour for sustainable development have led to ambitious targets in nations around the world. The future, therefore, belongs to forward-looking 21st-century graduates with wide-ranging technical competencies and soft skills, and a ‘can do’ attitude.
“Our energy courses at Coventry University offer technical professional qualifications in addition to an academic degree, thereby offering the vital skills needed to start-up as entrepreneurs, or take-up advanced degree programmes or relevant job opportunities anywhere in the world,” Dr Anifowose said.
Also commenting, Dr David Pilsbury, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) at Coventry University, noted that, “Only two UK universities attract more international students than Coventry, because we have excellent courses, fantastic facilities and high employability rates.
“We are also extremely experienced in meeting the needs of international students, so they have a great time and a great learning experience, and that relationship doesn’t stop on graduation.
“We’re proud to put so much effort into maintaining connections with our global community of students – particularly with our Nigerian alumni who so often share our energetic and entrepreneurial spirit.
“We currently have around 1,000 Nigerian students studying at Coventry, and it is great for all to stay in touch and continue to build the relationship with them when they graduate and return home to build their professional lives. It’s a relationship that we hope can start at open days like the three we’re holding next week across Nigeria.”
Coventry University was recently awarded a gold rating – the highest possible score – by the UK government for the quality of its teaching, as part of Britain’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).
The university is also currently ranked 12th overall in the UK in the prestigious Guardian University Guide, and is in the world’s top 200 in the Times Higher Education magazine’s Young University Rankings.
Modupe Gbadeyanka