Africa-based international education agents are moving away from traditional destinations and recommending destinations in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia, driven by affordable fees, living costs and high student visa success rates.
The agency sends students to universities in Germany, France and Ireland, as well as Turkiye in Eastern Europe, Cyprus, Hungary, Georgia, Poland and Malta, Dubai in the Middle East, and Malaysia and India in Asia. In addition to being affordable, visas are easy to obtain. A high proportion of students.
“Emerging destinations generally have more affordable tuition fees than the 'big four' (US, UK, Canada, Australia) universities, and many of these destinations offer strong career prospects and retention rates. It provides an opportunity,” said Shane Premji. Co-founder of African study abroad platform Craydel.
Some universities in emerging countries charge tuition fees as low as US$5,000 per year, and students only have to part with the same or slightly more in living expenses, leaving middle- and low-income people hungry for an education. It is an attractive study abroad destination for international learners. Countries in general.
Tuition fees at emerging destinations are generally more affordable than those at “big four” universities.
Shane Premji, Kradel
Premji says his company has a 100% visa success rate in many of these new destinations, and that it is increasing the number of visitors from the continent who are used to denial rates of up to 70% in some of the big four destinations. He said this is a big advantage for students.
Meanwhile, tuition fees at top private universities at the undergraduate level ranged from as low as around 4,000 euros per year in Poland to as high as around 6,000 euros in Hungary.
“Despite the enduring appeal of the Big Four for many students, recent changes in immigration policy, such as reductions in post-study work rights, quotas for international students and tightening of visa regulations, and “The combination of economic challenges in Africa is driving increased immigration, forcing many African students to consider alternative study destinations,” Premji said.
In response, his company runs international study abroad conferences in key markets in Africa, including Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria, so that students can be exposed to these emerging destinations and compare them to traditional destination universities. He told PIE News that he has launched a.
At its first conference, held in Nairobi, Kenya, earlier this month, the company hosted universities from 15 countries, including those from emerging and Big Four countries such as Germany, Ireland, France, UAE, Turkiye, Hungary and Cyprus. Universities were asked to pitch their destinations to students, and student votes determined the final winner.
To the surprise of the organizers, the students and parents in attendance chose Cyprus as the best educational destination, followed by Turkiye. “This serves as a small anecdote that these non-traditional destinations are gaining interest,” Premji said.
An equally good study abroad destination is Ireland, which offers relatively affordable fees, cost of living and top quality education, as well as post-study options, according to Farooq Larji of Koala Education Consultants and Study Options Africa Limited in Nairobi. Opportunities are said to exceed those of other emerging study abroad destinations.
“Emerging destinations like Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia have great universities, competitive tuition and living costs, but these developing countries and their people need everything available. , it offers a lot in terms of jobs and employment opportunities after studying abroad,” he told The PIE. It's a country where English isn't very popular, so it's difficult to work there.
He added that Ireland was a “fantastic” destination worth exploring because of the “perks” it offered, including the opportunity to work after university. Ireland's membership in the European Union also meant the option of working in multiple EU countries after graduation.
For example, in 2023, there were at least 3,600 African students in Malaysia. According to ECF Monitor, there were 1,420 Nigerian students, 1,310 Sudanese students and 880 Egyptian students in the country.
In 2023, students from 23 countries were eligible to obtain a postgraduate pass after 12 months in Malaysia, but no African country was given the privilege.
Meanwhile, Turkiye, another major destination, hosted 61,000 African students as of January 2023, a threefold increase from 19,000 in 2019. .
Northern Cyprus, an important route to Europe for African migrants, is another important contributor, with Nigeria alone accounting for 17,400 of the approximately 50,000 international students enrolled there in 2022. was the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Thousands of African students transferred to Georgian universities in 2023 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Before hostilities, more than 20,000 African students were studying there.
