We are all different and there’s no one single path to take after finishing your undergrad studies. Some people may not be ready to study again so they may need a leap year, others need to start working. But sooner or later most people tend to go for a Master’s degree at a grad school. This is one very good way to advance both professionally and personally. And when you get to that point in your life – when you know you want to continue or resume your studies with a graduate degree – you will also start considering doing a Master’s abroad and becoming an international student.

Since this is a big decision, balancing the advantages is essential. This does mean going to a foreign country for a couple of years, after all. At first, it may seem that you have a hard puzzle to figure out. But as soon as you state the “pros ” of international study, the pieces will start coming together.

7 Benefits of Studying Abroad

In an increasingly globalized world, studying abroad is now more important than ever. If you’re considering studying abroad in graduate school, here are eight ways it can benefit your education and career.

1. Improve your language skills.

By studying abroad, you’ll have the opportunity to hone your language skills. While studying a language in class is rewarding, applying it to the real world is an entirely different experience. You’ll likely learn the language faster because you’re practicing it regularly. You’ll also be able to pick up the conversational language you wouldn’t study in class, enabling you to speak like a local.

Developing your language skills can have a positive impact on your career, as well. Fluency in a second language is often helpful (if not required) when working at organizations with a multinational or global presence.

If you’re interested in breaking into the world of international business or global health, for instance, having strong foreign language skills and experience that demonstrates those skills can help your resumé stand out to employers.

2. Experience a different style of teaching.

Each country has its unique style of teaching. Studying abroad can help you expand your academic horizon and develop the capacity to adapt to various educational settings.

Adapting to different styles of teaching can also help you adjust to different management styles, making you more versatile in the workplace. Teaching styles you may encounter abroad include:

· Authority Style: A teacher-centered style where a professor is the authority figure and frequently gives long lectures or one-way presentations. There is a focus on set rules and expectations, and students typically take notes to retain information.

· Facilitator Style: Professors promote self-learning by emphasizing the teacher-student relationship. They help students develop critical thinking skills by teaching them how to ask questions and find solutions through exploration.

· Delegator Style: Professors assign lab activities and give students in-class projects to help them stay engaged. This is a guided learning style that places the teacher in an observer role while helping students remain active participants in their learning.

3. Impress employers.

Studying abroad can help launch your career and make you more competitive in the workforce. It allows you to show future and current employers that you have the open mind, resourcefulness, and drive needed to adapt to a different environment.

4. Enhance your network.

Studying abroad helps you build invaluable relationships with people from all over the world. You broaden your international connections while having the opportunity to meet people that could turn into life-long friends. Some connections can even lead to career opportunities, including internships, job offers, and business partners from both home and abroad.

The university where you study will often have a large community of students from local regions and abroad, allowing you to meet people from different backgrounds and cultures. The wider your network, the greater the likelihood you’ll be connected to exciting career and social opportunities.

5. Learn about new cultures and perspectives.

Your experience with a different culture allows you to expand your worldview. By studying abroad, you’ll learn about new perspectives and develop cross-cultural awareness.

For example, you may work with people from other countries in your next job. By studying abroad, you’ll be more comfortable with people from different backgrounds, value their unique experiences, and establish a stronger relationship with them.

Oftentimes, our cultural background has a huge impact on how we react to different situations. Gaining a variety of perspectives can help you look at experiences in an entirely new way. By studying abroad, you’ll meet people with different upbringings, helping you widen your horizons and broaden your mind.

In addition, the best way to experience another culture is to immerse yourself in it, and the ideal way to do that is by living in another country.

6. Develop your confidence.

By immersing yourself in another culture, you develop valuable life skills needed for personal growth, including independence and adaptability. These skills can give you an added boost of confidence in your personal and professional life.

Studying abroad can be overwhelming, but the challenges you overcome can help you become a more mature person. You’ll find out that you can often thrive in new, unexpected circumstances, and you’ll boost your communication skills by speaking a new language—helping you further improve your self-confidence.

7. See the world.

Studying abroad allows you to see the world and travel to new places you would otherwise not have visited. During your time away from your studies, you can go sightseeing in your new city. You’ll also get to know your region more intimately than if you were just visiting for a shorter period.

When studying abroad, you can also visit neighboring regions and countries, as you’re not limited to one place. For example, if you’re studying in Milan, you can visit Florence or explore the Tuscan countryside by train. With international budget airlines and travel deals, exploring the world is becoming increasingly more affordable.

Your newfound connections can also show you areas that a tourist otherwise wouldn’t experience.

Choosing a Graduate Study Abroad Program

The advantages of studying abroad are tremendous at any stage in your education. But, for those students looking to study abroad at the graduate level, finding the right program to fit their needs can be challenging. It’s important to find a program that will help you meet your goals. If you are balancing work and school, for example, a short-term program may be a better fit for you than a one- or two-semester trip.

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According to one of the sacked workers (name withheld) who spoke with The Punch, he said out of 240 workers, almost 150 appointments were terminated.

“I am among those sacked. Anybody that is 60 years and above and anybody that has one or two queries in his/her file were also affected.

“Out of about 240 workers, almost 150  got their appointments terminated due to coronavirus, low IGR and they said it’s another avenue to restructure the system. They also said the wage bill is too high,” he said.

But the Public Relations Officer, IUTH, Mr Uyi Osaretin, while confirming the sacking of the workers to The Punch, said only 54 members of staff were affected. He added that the exercise was on-going.

“It’s not up to 150 that were sacked, that is speculation. It’s around 54 as at yesterday but I know the second phase is coming which will affect the medical personnel, the doctors and the consultants.”

“We are going to get many of the people back but for now, we cannot continue to pay N28m and yet cannot make up to N5m per month.”

PUNCH NEWS

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The board said on Sunday that it made “an interim remittance of N3.5bn to the Federal Government’s consolidated account,” which was added to an initial N3.5bn raked in from the UTME candidates by way of the reduction of the cost of electronic PINs as approved by the Federal Government.

The JAMB Head of Media, Dr Fabian Benjamin, said in a statement that the Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, had directed that more remittances be done by the board and a “proper audit of JAMB books be carried out.”

Benjamin said, “From the outset, it has been the intention of the present leadership of the board to return whatever is left unutilised from its operational imperatives. The immediate benefit of the move manifested in the reduction by President Muhammadu Buhari of the UTME registration fee payable by candidates from N5,000 to N3,500.

“Before the reduction in the cost of application ePINs, the board had remitted over N7bn in 2017.”

PUNCH NEWS

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Recall that the state government had on March 18 ordered public and private schools in the state to close down from March 23, as part of measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in the state.

The state Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, in a statement on Thursday, said all private and public schools in the state would remain closed to protect pupils from the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adefisayo noted that the state government would intensify efforts in the ongoing free teachings on various media, especially radio and television, rather than reopening schools and endangering the lives of pupils.

The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, who disclosed the government’s stance on the reopening of schools for the third-term academic session, urged proprietors aiming to commence academic session for third-term amid the COVID-19 outbreak to abandon the plans.

She said, “The attention of the Lagos State Ministry of Education has been drawn to the plans by some private schools in the state to resume academic activities for the third term of the 2019/20 session by online teaching. This is with effect from Monday, April 27, 2020.

“The Ministry wishes to state categorically that all schools in Lagos State remain closed and have not yet been opened for the third term. The state continues to offer free teachings on various media, especially radio and television.

“Plans are also underway to ensure that our children in public schools are able to complete their term whenever the lockdown is lifted.”

Adefisayo appealed to the proprietors to persevere and adopt the online teaching strategy to keep their students busy while staying at home to avoid contracting COVID-19.

The Commissioner disclosed that some secondary schools in the state have commenced online teaching to engage their students charging discounted tuition fees, while some schools were charging full tuition rates.

“Parents are concerned about the cost of this programme, ranging from fees charged by schools to the cost of data and devices as well as the cost of fuelling generators to ensure steady electricity power supply.

“Parents also have to supervise online teachings to guard against the exposure of children to pornography, in addition to online harassment and bullying”, Adefisayo said.

The Commissioner for Education called for a continuous dialogue between school administrators and parents to seek ways to resolve issues related to the inability of parents to earn income during this period, the need for schools to pay their personnel who provide online teaching as well as the purchase of devices for teachers, including the provision of data to prepare for the daily teaching activities.

“In view of the aforementioned, we ask that schools consult extensively with parents and find a win-win solution that will be acceptable to all stakeholders,” she added.

PUNCH NEWS

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The victim, in a lengthy post on Twitter before his death, said he could no longer live with the continuous harassment by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, which he claimed led to his decision to kill himself.

His stepbrother, Toye Salawudeen, who announced the death on the social media, told PUNCH Metro that the family did not know about Akinade’s ordeal until after his demise.

The deceased had narrated on his Twitter page, @Akinadeoluwa17, how he plunged into $20,000 debt after he was arrested by the SARS personnel, who allegedly extorted money from him.

According to the 23-year-old undergraduate, who was also a forex trader, his encounter with the SARS personnel gave him constant nightmares.

He had tweeted, “It happened again tonight, I had the same nightmare that’s been reoccurring for months now since the incident happened, same faces. SARS officials in their black uniform carrying us away in the dead of the night and I wake up with serious chest pain from fear of what I was about to experience.

“It happened on the 2nd of February 2020 I was in my hostel working on my post data slides because I had to present the next day when all of a sudden these SARS officials entered my room. It was around 10pm and I still had my generator on maybe that was why they came to my room first, they just collected my laptop and phones, my friends were also in my room, we were all told to dress up and come outside, one of my friends was given a dirty slap for practically not dressing up fast enough ‘what did we do?’ I kept asking.

“They didn’t say anything and they threatened to waste me if I didn’t stop asking silly questions. We were handcuffed like armed robbers, all 17 of us, we were squeezed into small cars like goats to the slaughter, and from camp Abeokuta, we were taken down to Ibara Police Station. Immediately we got there I decided to plead with who was in charge that I had a presentation in school the next day, that they should please let me go early because at that time it was 12 in the midnight already, he said I will pay 200k! Ha! For what?

“I told him to go through my phone that I am not a fraudster, that I am a forex trader and he went through my phone and my friends’ phone nothing was implicating there, except for the bank alerts and that money were not even mine, I told him they were investors money. I forgot to mention I opened a trade on my trading platform before they came to arrest us, I also pleaded with them to give me access to my phone so I can close the trade or something they thought I wanted to call someone and they slapped me for requesting for my phone, the trade kept running till the next day

“I slept in a cell that night for doing nothing, police will slap you and beat you, and prisoners will beat you when you enter the cell too! I cried till the next morning not because I was sleeping in a cell for doing nothing, but because I was on a losing trade with thousands of $ on the line and also because I was going to miss my project presentation which cannot be repeated. I was paraded like a thief in the morning and they were asking us what we did, with tears in my eyes I said ‘nothing’ they still slapped me and told me to admit I’m a fraudster without having anything incriminating on my phone!

“That day I lost almost 20k$ trading and I missed my presentation in school. They still wanted to collect bail after beating and harassing us for nothing. Since then I’ve been in massive debt, I couldn’t complete my education and my life has been in shambles and suicide has been the only thought on my mind every day. So in case I hurt myself and anyone is curious as to why I did it. This is my story.”

Akinade’s death has led to the creation of the #justiceforseyi hashtag on the social media, with Nigerians calling for the prosecution of the officers involved.

Salawudeen, who also demanded justice for his brother, told PUNCH Metro that Akinade died before he got to hospital.

He said, “Seyi was the quiet type and based on the kind of relationship we had, we were not very close. This morning (Wednesday), my mum called me that Seyi was dead and when I asked her what happened, she said he was vomiting and crying of stomach pain and asking for palm oil.

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The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who spoke at the daily Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja, noted that 15 states had already commenced electronic learning for pupils on their local television and radio channels.

Nwajiuba said, “We have announced that WAEC and NECO for the year have been postponed. This postponement is indefinite at the moment. We will also be looking at what we will do for schools to reopen. As you recall, we asked that schools be vacated in the last part of March 2020 as soon as this pandemic broke out.

“We have made provisions available online. The Directorate of Information and Communication Technology in conjunction with the Universal Basic Education Commission, the coordinating agency, will anchor an alliance with State Universal Basic Education Boards in all the states so that they can key into our design.

“About 15 states have already commenced learning via different channels that are available in their states, mostly local TV and radio. All the programmes they are running are approved by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Commission.”

PUNCH NEWS

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The Federal Ministry of Education has urged Nigerians to disregard some false news making the rounds that the Federal Government had directed the reopening of schools.

The ministry’s Director of Press, Ben Goong, said on Sunday that there was no such directive from the minister, Adamu Adamu, as everyone had been instructed to work from home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Goong noted that parents, guardians and stakeholders must not be misled by fake news but should continue to abide by the Federal Government’s regulations to tackle the ravaging pandemic.

He said, “On the issue of reopening of schools, the ministry has not directed the reopening of any school at any level. The purported press release by the minister to that effect is a clear forgery as it did not emanate from the minister.

“Parents, students and the general public are advised to please disregard the fake release. There is also another story making the rounds that the Federal Government has blamed the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities on vice-chancellors. At no time did any Federal Government official make that kind of statement.

“Any insinuation in that direction is simply emanating from the fertile imagination of the author and that the ministry has nothing whatsoever to do with it. Stakeholders and indeed the general public should disregard such statements. Stay at home, stay safe. Let’s work from home like I’m doing. Only the living can work or worship.”

PUNCH NEWS

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Of course this process will take us some years to achieve but we need to prepare the youths ahead of time and they need to understand the different between policy and politics.

Get started by getting a copy of this book because you need to be liberated before you can liberate other and this book will help in achieving that.

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