It is often a common requirement that international students are mandated to write TOEFL, IELTS, or any other English test to pursue higher education in Universities in Europe, most especially in USA or Canada.
However, there is a recent development for Nigerians seeking admission, as the Athabasca University which is a university in Canada, has excluded Nigeria from its list of foreign applicants who are mandated to write and pass any of the English tests before admission.
This waiver for Nigerians was implemented after Canadian-based Nigerian, Dr. Olumuyiwa Igbalajobi (Ph.D) wrote a protest letter to the university. The Athabasca university had to take heed to his demands by removing Nigeria from the list of countries to write International English language Testing System (IELTS), Test Of English As A Foreign Language (TOEFL), and other English tests before enrollment.
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It is also interesting to note that Dr. Olumuyiwa who is a post-doctoral research fellow, has also achieved the same feat at the University of Alberta Canada. The university last month had to remove Nigeria’s name from the list of countries that must present proof of English test.
Although the University of Alberta had previously recognized some schools in Nigeria whose students do not need to write any of the English Tests. Dr. Olumuyiwa whose commendable efforts have drawn accolades from so many Nigerians disclosed that such rules mandating Nigerian students to write an English test before given admission were not proper.
He argued that students in Nigeria are taught English from Elementary School to Tertiary institutions, hence there was no need for any English test.
In his words, “From my lens of equality, diversity, and inclusion, this is just unfair. Nigeria is an English-speaking country and the mode of instruction from elementary to the tertiary institutions is in English. Subjecting applicants to another round of English tests is annoying. The financial constraints have also prevented a lot of applicants from giving a shot to most of these universities”.
He further disclosed that it is not good that countries colonized by Britain are still being mandated to prove that they can speak the English language which makes no sense. Dr. Olumuyiwa has written to about 12 universities to date and vows to continue to identify universities with stale lists and those who wouldn’t recognize Nigeria as an English-speaking country.
This noble effort from him has no doubt brought about a huge sigh of relief among Nigerian students who have the intention of seeking admission to the aforementioned schools.
From inception, It has been mandatory that International students seeking admission in most schools in Europe are required to write any of the English tests for proof.
While this is good, it is imperative for these schools to have a nuanced approach towards these English tests, such that only students from non-English speaking countries will be mandated to write such tests, exempting students from English-speaking countries.