Why British boarding schools are so eager to open in Nigeria

For a few years, well-off Nigerians have despatched their kids to prestigious British boarding colleges – however now a few of these establishments are organising campuses in Africa’s most populous nation.

Final yr, Charterhouse launched a major college within the metropolis of Lagos and can open a secondary college this September.

Rugby Faculty can even start providing secondary training in September. Different well-known establishments, comparable to Millfield, Wellington Faculty and Harrow, are additionally exploring alternatives in Nigeria.

This clearly all comes with a price ticket for Nigerian mother and father – however the nation’s well-heeled elite have traditionally despatched their kids to the UK for secondary training, drawn to the British curriculum’s rigour, status and international alternatives.

“I am truly enthusiastic about it,” says Karima Oyede, a British-Nigerian administration marketing consultant, whose son is at present in yr 10 at Rugby within the UK however will probably be shifting to its Lagos college in September.

Her household has been which means to relocate to Nigeria for some time however has not accomplished so earlier due to the kids’s training.

“Having the chance to expertise the British system in his nation of origin is the most effective of each worlds,” she says.

Nigeria already has a proliferation of personal colleges however high-quality, internationally recognised training inside the nation will enchantment to many mother and father, significantly those that want to protect their kids’s cultural identification.

“African mother and father love the truth that they’re giving their kids worldwide standing to allow them to compete with their counterparts in another a part of the world, however they do not need their kids to lose their African-ness,” says Ijay Uwakwe-Okoronkwo, the founding father of Nkuzhi Studying Basis in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.

The academic marketing consultant, who advises mother and father and colleges on worldwide boarding choices, explains the extra relaxed, much less respectful angle kids return with after going to highschool overseas will not be all the time appreciated.

This cultural dilemma extends to the rising dialog round LGBTQ points. Identical-sex relationships and public shows of affection are unlawful in Nigeria and homosexuality will not be brazenly mentioned or promoted.

It’s one thing that the brand new crop of British colleges has taken on board. For instance, whereas Charterhouse UK shows a rainbow flag, the Nigeria college doesn’t.

“We’re a British unbiased college however sitting firmly inside Nigerian cultural wants,” says John Todd, head of Charterhouse Nigeria.

“There’s this big concern about Western cultural views.

“For folks right here, we all know it is a actually huge concern. It is a purpose mother and father are anxious in regards to the UK colleges.

“I am not making a judgement – it is simply the way in which it’s.”

British establishments in Nigeria don’t have any alternative however to “observe the legislation of the land”, he acknowledges, including: “We’re 100% compliant.”

Recognising Nigeria’s deeply spiritual society, Charterhouse additionally permits mother and father to take their kids dwelling from the boarding home for Sunday church providers, with the expectation that they return by Monday morning.

There are a number of causes behind the rising curiosity of prestigious British colleges in opening campuses in Nigeria.

Whereas areas just like the Center East and China are already saturated with worldwide colleges, Africa is comparatively virgin territory.

“Nigeria is the gateway to Africa, and Africa is form of the final continent for British colleges to ascertain in,” says Mark Brooks, an export champion for the UK’s Division for Enterprise and Commerce.

He organises annual occasions in Nigeria the place about 20 British colleges meet potential college students and oldsters.

“Nigeria has an unbelievable status for producing pushed, high-achieving college students,” says Mr Brooks.

“There is no such thing as a college I work with that hasn’t not too long ago had a Nigerian pupil function head boy or deputy head boy. A pupil could be a part of the sixth type and find yourself being the top boy inside a yr.

“I’ve introduced lots of of head lecturers to Nigeria through the years, and the phrase is out within the UK that we have to take Nigeria significantly.”

Timing has additionally proved key, as the price of sending kids to the UK has soared. Simply three years in the past, the alternate fee of the native forex was 500 naira to £1; now it stands at 2,200 naira.

On high of that, the Labour authorities within the UK not too long ago imposed 20% VAT on non-public college charges.

Past tuition, households face further bills like flights for each college students and visiting mother and father.

Establishing these colleges in Nigeria permits households to take care of the identical commonplace of training whereas considerably lowering the monetary pressure.

The annual charges at Charterhouse UK, for instance, are round £60,000 ($78,000), whereas the charges at its Lagos campus are equal to roughly £15,000.

“Our fundamental classroom lecturers are expatriates, however 90% of the workers are native,” says Mr Todd.

By using native individuals in roles comparable to assistant lecturers, administration, finance, human sources, advertising and marketing, amenities, safety, gardeners, drivers, PAs and secretaries, the college can considerably cut back prices in comparison with the UK, the place labour is far more costly.

An enormous training hole already exists in Nigeria, with many mother and father choosing non-public training of various high quality. Many wrestle to pay the upper charges relatively than sending their kids to authorities colleges, which are sometimes free however stricken by poorly skilled lecturers and frequent strikes.

Consequently, the arrival of British colleges could not drastically change Nigeria’s training system.

Nonetheless, they might pose a risk to established elite colleges just like the British Worldwide Faculty in Lagos and The Regent Faculty in Abuja, which opened within the early 2000s.

Such colleges have lengthy been high selections for these in a position to pay the annual tuition charges that usually attain tens of hundreds of {dollars}.

“Rugby Faculty Nigeria is coming additionally to help, develop and be taught from the faculties at present in Nigeria,” says Mr Brooks, who’s in control of the college’s advertising and marketing.

“We’re coming to assist with partnerships as properly, instructor coaching, and a complete vary of initiatives.”

Mr Todd believes the Nigerian market is giant sufficient to accommodate all the brand new colleges with out threatening present ones. About 40% of the 200 million inhabitants is underneath 14.

He expects the best affect to be felt within the UK.

Whereas Charterhouse UK sometimes has an extended ready listing and shouldn’t be affected, much less sought-after boarding colleges could expertise a decline in enrolment owing to the brand new competitors in Nigeria.

“Curiosity in our secondary college could be very sturdy,” says Mr Todd. “We have already got Nigerian mother and father within the UK sending their kids to the Charterhouse in Nigeria for September.”

In truth, reaching out to Nigerians within the UK has been one among their key advertising and marketing methods.

“You get this premier model at a lower cost, and each Nigerian has an aunt or uncle in Lagos” who could be a guardian, he provides.

It may very well be that this development extends to British universities. Nigeria’s tertiary training system faces even higher challenges than its secondary sector, with many college students opting to review overseas.

In 2023, Nigeria ranked among the many high 10 nations for UK pupil visas, in accordance with UK authorities information.

However with overseas alternate difficulties and stricter visa rules, learning overseas is turning into more and more difficult – and universities that depend on larger worldwide tuition charges seem like struggling.

Earlier this month, British MP Helen Hayes, chair of the parliamentary Schooling Committee, acknowledged the UK’s larger training sector was in bother.

“Dozens of universities are making redundancies and cuts to programs, making an attempt to remain afloat amid uncertainty over the place their cash is coming from,” she mentioned when asserting a session to contemplate the sector’s future.

If sufficient Nigerian college students can not go to the UK to review, British universities could discover it worthwhile to return to them, as they’ve elsewhere on the planet.

In truth, Nigeria’s premier college, the College of Ibadan, was established in 1948 as a campus of the College of London, with levels awarded carrying the identical worth and status.

Ms Uwakwe-Okoronkwo believes many Nigerian mother and father would respect this chance, as it will permit their kids to remain in Nigeria lengthy sufficient to mature earlier than doubtlessly shifting overseas, in the event that they select to take action.

“Many mother and father are anxious about sending their kids out of the nest too early,” she says.

For Ms Oyede, whose daughter can even be beginning at Rugby Faculty in Lagos come September, the timing of all this might not be higher.

She says the British college opening has already been an “incentive to return dwelling”.

The prospect of college alternatives can be a welcome bonus.

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani is a contract Nigerian journalist and novelist based mostly in Abuja and London.