Dear International Students from Nigeria, welcome to England. Some of you will meet new folks who will become lifelong friends here. Others will meet life partners here. Follow laid down rules. Don’t engage in fraud. Don’t trust anyone with bank or personal details. Stay safe.
Apply for your NI as soon as possible. Apply for a provisional drivers licence (if you didn’t get an international drivers licence from Nigeria), join societies, attend Nigerian-related networking events, join non-Nigerian groups & integrate into the society as much as you can.
Cut out the “yes sir yes ma.” In most instances, Dave is Dave and Richard is Richard. Oh, you can use your left hand to pass things to people too, no one cares 🙂
Get a part time job. Volunteer at a charity shop, once you have settled down after a few months.
Don’t waste your parents money and go back home without a degree. Focus. You are not here on holiday.
Speak clearly. You don't need to fake an accent.
Let’s continue, shall we? Dear international students, now that you are here in England, I’ve seen a lot of gay, lesbian and LGBT tweets flying around. Try as much as possible not to comment or offer an opinion (publicly) on these issues. Whatever you say might be misinterpreted.
In the last 2 years, I have been informed of at least 3 people who were asked to withdraw and go back home, in some instances they refer to it as termination of studies. You are not here on holidays. I repeat, you are not here to have fun and travel around England. Work hard!
“I am very opinionated, my religion says this, I believe that.....”
Lol. It is not your responsibility to convert anyone. If someone says they don’t want to have a religious conversation with you, please end that talk. It is not by force. Don’t get into trouble.
Lol. It is not your responsibility to convert anyone. If someone says they don’t want to have a religious conversation with you, please end that talk. It is not by force. Don’t get into trouble.
You will enjoy England if you can mind your business. If they’re fighting in the second house, it is not your business; face your kiosk (this would have been better said in Yoruba).
Masters students, if you want to get a scholarship to do your PhD, try and get a distinction in your masters. Start early. Attend all lectures and seminars. Identify potential PhD supervisors in your Uni and fratanise with them. Ask one of them to supervise your MSc dissertation.
Try and publish your MSc dissertation in a small journal or convert it to a mini-case study for a textbook. This was what I did. Present it at a conference too. I did this in 2011 too. When you go for your PhD interview, you’d be ahead of lot of people if you follow this advice.
The UK curriculum for most Unis doesn’t change significantly year in year out. For most courses, they only update it, like I have updated my strategy lectures with recent business case studies like Asda ‘merging’ with Sainsbury and Tesco creating Jacks. Ask for past questions.
