TETFund halts its foreign scholarship program for lecturers, citing financial constraints and a shift in focus towards local capacity development.
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has declared that it will pause its foreign scholarship program for Nigerian lecturers.
A statement released on Thursday by Abdulmumin Oniyangi, the Director of Public Affairs at TETFund, attributed the suspension to excessive costs and a high rate of beneficiary scholars absconding.
The complete statement is as follows: “The Board of Trustees at the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has decided to suspend the international component of the TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS) program.”
The suspension, effective from January 1st, 2025, is due to the excessive costs of training in foreign institutions and the high rate of scholars absconding abroad.
Nonetheless, TETFund scholars who are already enrolled in foreign institutions will continue to receive their scholarships until they complete their programs.
The suspension is anticipated to maintain and alleviate the pressure on the foreign exchange rate, enhance investment and local capacity in Nigerian tertiary educational institutions, and substantially increase the number of beneficiaries from this intervention.
To achieve this goal, TETFund and the National Universities Commission (NUC) have ramped up efforts to implement the Trans-national Education Guidelines recently approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. This initiative will encourage leading institutions from countries such as the United Kingdom, United States of America, Malaysia, and Brazil to collaborate with Nigerian universities in offering programs that maintain comparable standards and quality to those available at their home campuses.
Beneficiary institutions of TETFund have been urged to prioritize their training needs for implementation within Nigerian establishments and ensure full compliance.
