THE INCOMPARABILITY BETWEEN THE AFRICAN AND WESTERN UNIVERSITIES DEGREES

 It is  necessary to acknowledge the fact that all universities degrees are not equal in terms of academic value based on the quality  of individual nation’s human capital and infrastructural development and coupled with her socio-economic and scientific   advancement.

Consequently, countries are grouped into three major categories by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) also known as G8 member nations which are: Developed, Developing and Least Developed nations. 

Based on this development, individual donation to multilateral organizations by member nation’s category such as the World Bank and United Nations agencies varies from one country to another depending on individual national Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and in the same vein, development aids packages and loan repayment terms and conditions from the Word Bank and other multilateral financial institutions are based on individual nation’s category. 

Consequently, the standard of education is much dependent on the category individual nation belongs in terms of socio-economic and scientific advancement which is being evident in their individual national GDP and to be reflected on her tertiary institutions enhancing the provision of qualified graduates for effective service delivery to the benefit of her entire citizenry.  

Evidently, a Medical Professional with a Bachelor Degree from  African University cannot have the same academic value with a Bachelor Degree Holder in the same discipline either in the United States of America or in any other advanced country because he or she was trained along side with the Advanced State- of- the -Arts -Facilities  either in the United States or any of  advanced countries which is not available in the Nigerian tertiary institutions with far lesser socio-economic and scientific advancement quite incomparable to the United States and other advanced countries. Evidently, most patients are flown to abroad for diagnostics as recommended by the Nigerian Medical Doctors due to the unavailability of the required facilities.

 Similarly, an African Bachelor Degree Holder in Secretariat Administration would use a manual typewriter when computer technology is not yet introduced in the African country's University as oppose to U.S Bachelor Degree Graduate in Secretariat Administration who is already endowed with computer technology as the fundamental technical requirement in Secretariat studies. 

Consequently, the African Graduates would start all over again from the Diploma level in the United States even though both of them are First Class Bachelor Degree  holders  from the African Universities.

In terms of University -to- Universty's Affiliation, not all the courses would be acceptable due to the unavailability of the required facilities in the African university unless they come over to the United States for studies beginning at the foundation level and depending on the course involved.

 Consequently, the Western Advanced Countries have far less regard for degrees from developing and least developed nations across the globe due to their poor academic standard but have regard for degrees awarded by Western Universities instead except from South Africa due to white minority dominance as Lecturers  in the tertiary institutions and endowed with advanced social infrastructure and technological advancement and evidently, became the first African country to host the World Cup in 2010 having the State- of- the- Arts- facilities on ground quite unlike other African nation.

Evidently, UNESCO had set up Committee whose duty is to reduce unnecessary Credentials discrimination based academic standard comparability among her member nations.

 Based on  this development, the European-American University Degree awards become the best alternative to most  Africans both home  and abroad either for study advancement  or seeking for employment abroad and also for Remote Job opportunities (known as online Freelance jobs] without discrimination due to Western discrimination towards African degrees except through University-to-University Affiliation on certain courses in line with the Westen Universty's Curriculmn.

The Management Consulting Institutes

 

The  Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria recognized by the Federal Government of Nigeria is  a Member of the International Council of Management Consulting  Institutes (IMCI) whose Corporate Headquarters is in the United States of America with Members  all over the world, providing training to Government Officials, University Authorities and other Tertiary Institutions and individuals at all levels in the academic and professional spectrum and are not within  the scope of the  traditional campus based Primary, Secondary and University institutions to be approved by the Ministry of Education with independent buildings and classrooms, equipped with the state-of the Art facilities as parameters; in most cases, such requirement  does not apply to the Management Consulting Institutes aside from registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission and professional Membership either as Corporate body or as Individual quite unlike the aforementioned traditional campus based institutions. 

The Management Consultants and other professionals are mobile in their operations quite unlike the campus based institutions with regular classroom routine works. Those professional bodies work  in partnership with the traditional institutions approved by the Ministry of Education as training Consultants.

Evidently, during the COVID 19 Survival Fund Grant Awards, only the Staff of the Management Consulting Institutes were paid and not in the name of the institutes; but the traditional institutions approved by the Ministry of Education were paid both in the name of the institution and in the name of individual staff to make the difference like the case of Delcan Distance Learning Consult (as division of G. Delcan International Services).

 As Consultants, they are given greater autonomy to provide training to those  officials in the Ministry of Education including the formulation and preparation of the Educational Curriculum at all levels (Primary, Secondary, Polytechnics,  University and other tertiary institutions) and the required State of the Art facilities based on the current world trend  and including  Staff and Management of the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) assigned for the Assessment and Evaluation  of the required academic standard of the Universities and other tertiary institutions in collaboration with foreign Experts most preferably from the Advanced Countries based on individual area of expertise.

They are guided by international Legal Advisers who are also Members of the aforementioned professional body in the discharge of individual's professional obligation at all levels.

 Association with Management Consulting Institutes

One of the Prior Approval Guidelines given by the Federal Ministry of Education is the Incorporation of the traditional Institution with the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria  as a Limited Lability Entity,  to be given  the right to form Association or Partnership with any organization as stipulated in the Memorandum and Article of Association by the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria. 

Consequently, private institutions Incorporated and Approved by the Ministry of Education could affiliate to a Management Consulting Institute for her own benefits as legitimate such as providing distance learning programme and other training related activities using her required facilities based on terms and condition agreed upon.      

Consequently, most Private Universities are accredited by several professional organizations aside from government accreditation especially if she had been granted Chartered status as an autonomous institution exempted from regular assessment and evaluation checks by the educational authorities.

Individual Membership Qualification

Members of professional bodies are automatically accredited depending on their area of expertise and not necessary the qualification of individual membership grade level. Take as example, if the government requires the service of a Management Consulting firm, may first of all request from the Association as to ensure that the Consultant is a member of a recognized professional body that can provide the service.

The Association would check from the list of registered Consultants that had the technical know-how in that field which she would recommend to the Government officials. At this point, qualification and grade level of membership may not apply in most cases based on the fact that most Consultants only had the technical experience and not the academic qualification and taking into consideration the “ Accreditation of Prior Learning Experience Award” endorsed by UNESCO. In most cases, those with the conventional University degrees cannot provide the service but a member of very lower qualification that already had the technical know-how in that field who had never studied in the classroom but already had been accredited of his or her expertise being a member of a recognized professional body would be recommended.

Take as an example, if a Government official car having a technical hitch along the road, the driver may temporary employ a roadside mechanic who had the tools and technical skill already to rectify the fault in the engine and pay him if he does the job successfully. The Government official does not request for the qualification of the technician before he handles the Government official car likewise in most government offices.

Consequently, it becomes very necessary to become a member in any recognized professional body of your carrier in order to boost your professional expertise and paying quarterly or yearly membership fees depending on your grade level of membership in the Association.

Based on this development, most private Universities are accredited by several professional organizations across the globe like the European-American University. Such accreditation also extend to her graduates across the globe for their recognition in their various filed of expertise as graduates from  accredited  Universities specially as one of the Universities awarding the Certificates, Diploma and Degrees based on the Accreditation of Prior Learning Assessment  Awards as endorsed by UNESCO.