US varsity offers scholarships to Nigerians

The International Student Counsellor, South Baylo University, California, United States of America, Dr. Mervyn Fishback, has said that one out of five Nigerians who offer to study for a Master’s of Science in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in the institution will be given scholarship.

Fishback, who said this while addressing prospective students of the institution in Lagos on Saturday, added that Nigeria had a lot to gain from acupuncture and oriental medicine as the programme remained a viable alternative to orthodox medicine.

According to him, the scholarship will cover tuition for the three-year programme.

But he said that the modalities for selecting beneficiaries had not been decided.

“Even if you don’t get the scholarship, funding the MSc programme is affordable compared to what is obtainable in other universities. The tuition is not huge and you earn some money from the university work-study programme,” Fishback said.

Speaking on admission requirement for the programme, Fishback said mature candidates without first degrees could be admitted.

“After the M.Sc programme students can work for one year on their student’s visas and afterwards enroll for a doctorate in the field,” he said.

He added that apart from giving out scholarship to Nigerians, the US university would also establish an acupuncture clinic in Lagos and a school to train specialists in the field.

Fishback said the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University, Dr David Park, is interested in establishing a school in Nigeria because of Nigerians’ insatiable thirst for education.

On what the university role was in helping foreign students to obtain visa, Fishback said obtaining a student visa should not be a problem if the applicant was honest.

“Getting a visa is not as difficult as people think, given the number of Nigerians studying in the country. With 7,100 students, Nigeria accounts for the highest number of African students in the U.S – more than Ghana (4,000), Kenya (2,500) and Tanzania (about 1,000).

“However, the challenge is that an applicant must be open, transparent and truthful. Even if the truth is unpalatable, it is better the visa applicant tells it than tell a lie. If you are truthful, you will get a visa,” he said.

He added that an applicant would be given a visa once he could establish that he had been admitted, submitted genuine transcripts, shown evidence of ability to finance his or her education, convinced the visa officials that they would return home and passed security checks.

“Do not tell lies.  Once you tell a lie, you will not get into the US.  They will not ask you questions they do not already have answers to.  If your sister went to the U.S. and did not return and they ask you do you have a relative in the U.S. and you say no, you will not get it,” he said.