Admissions Requirement: Canadian University Removes Nigeria From English Test

A Nigerian postdoctoral research fellow in Canada, Olumuyiwa Igbalajobi, recently got the University of Alberta, Canada, to exclude Nigerian students from its English language requirement.

Igbalajobi, who hails from Ekiti State, South-west Nigeria, on May 22, emailed and tweeted at the university’s official Twitter handle, calling its attention to a list of select universities from Nigeria who met the institution’s English language requirement.

He added that the official language in Nigeria is English which automatically translates to the fact that all academic programmes from elementary to tertiary education are taught in English.

He said based on that, Nigeria should have been exempted entirely and not some select schools.

Nigerians have over the years, but most recently intensified the campaign #ReformIELTS, which calls on foreign universities to exempt Nigeria from taking English requirements tests such as International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).

In January, about 40,000 Nigerians signed a petition calling on the United Kingdom (UK) home office to either remove Nigeria from the list of countries whose citizens are required to take English proficiency tests or reduce the fees charged for the examination.

The cost of the test currently stands between N80,000 and N90,000 in Nigeria.

In acknowledging his email, the university noted that Igbalajobi’s email surfaced an important issue of discrepancies between ELP exempted countries as listed across Canadian post-secondary institutions.

It noted that it will work with its U15 partners to make the reference list consistent but will “in the meantime, add Nigeria to the list.”

The school management said University of Alberta is home to many Nigerian graduate students and will make sure that Nigerians and other prospective students have accurate information as they research and apply to the institution.

In an interview with newsmen in Nigeria, Igbalajobi said he sent a reminder to the university after a week of monitoring its website for a change. He said he noticed that the change was effected on Saturday.

Nigeria has now been added to the university’s list of countries where English is an official language of instruction.

However, it was further confirmed that the university’s second category of exempted international schools had yet to be corrected or taken down from its website.