Australian varsities admit over 10,000 Nigerian students in four years – Official

Matthew Mechan, Deputy High Commissioner, Australia, Australian High Commission, says not less than 10,000 Nigerian students have been given admissions in Australian universities between 2015 and 2019.

According to him, the process went seamlessly before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic interruptions.

Mechan said this on Saturday at the country’s ongoing education fair in Lagos.

The two-day event, which started with a gala night on Friday, was organised to celebrate and strengthen educational links between Nigeria and Australia.

It was also to promote opportunities offered by Australia’s tertiary education sector to Nigerian students.

The deputy head of mission told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the study fair was stalled by the pandemic, noting that the event was the first ever, since 2019, in the post COVID 19 era.

Mechan said the study fair was a relaunch aimed at adopting a wholistic approach toward closing the vacuum created by the pandemic for better ties with Nigeria.

He added that Australia had produced several successful graduates who returned to Nigeria and were making positive impacts, developing various sectors.

“I recall in 2015, that year we only had 400 people, but after our first fair, we added 1,000 new students. So, we got up to 1,400 students in a space of one year.

“And that slowly grew over time with a couple of hundreds each year.

“So, I guess if you pull all those numbers together, I will think probably since 2015 we will be getting not less than 10,000 Nigerians who have had the chance to study in Australia,” he said.

He noted that Australia had a target of restoring the growth index for more Nigerian students to study in Australia’s adventurous and relaxed learning environment.

“If we can get back to adding a couple of more hundreds of students each year, that will be great. We know that we offer something incredibly different from other countries,” he said.