Tag Archives: African Students

India rejects charges of racism over attacks on African students

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India on Tuesday rejected charges made by a group of African envoys who termed recent attacks on African students in the country as “racial and xenophobic”.

The envoys also slammed New Delhi for inaction on the issue.

African missions in India on Monday condemned the “racial, xenophobic” attacks on their students near New Delhi and called for an international inquiry.

Mobs in Delhi’s suburbs of Noida had last week thrashed several Nigerians after a local teenager died of a suspected drug overdose.

Residents blamed some African students for plying the youth with drugs.

A statement issued by Eritrean ambassador and dean of the African group of mission heads, Alem Woldemariam, had said that India had taken “no known, sufficient and visible deterring measures” to prevent the violence.

The envoys called for a probe by UN’s Human Rights Council into the attack.

However, Indian Foreign Ministry officials rejected the claim that African nations had spoken with one voice as a very small number of envoys were consulted for the statement issued by Woldemariam.

“It is unfortunate that a criminal act triggered following the untimely death of a young Indian student under suspicious circumstances has been termed as xenophobic and racial,” the ministry said.

It said that the local authorities had expeditiously arrested suspects, and the Indian government had also condemned and described the attack as unacceptable.

Authorities had also taken measures for the safety and security of African students and were holding meetings with local residents and students.

In New York, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN was not involved in the case, but it wanted the perpetrators of the attack to be brought to justice.

 

Source: dpa/NAN

Nigeria has highest number of African students in US – Report

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The United States government on Tuesday has announced that Nigeria has the highest number of students from Africa studying in the US.

 

According to the 2016 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, there were 10,674 Nigerians studying in the US during the 2015-16 academic year.

 

The reported noted that the figure made Nigeria the leading source of African students and ranked 14th worldwide as a source of international students in the US.

 

“This figure marks the highest number of Nigerians studying in the United States since 1986-87,” the report said.

 

It stated that students from Nigeria who studied primarily at the undergraduate level were “50.8% undergraduate; 35.6% graduate; 11.5 % Optional Practical Training; and 2% non-degree programmes or short-term studies.”

The study also showed that the top five institutions that had received the most Nigerian students are all located in the state of Texas: Houston Community College, the University of Houston, the University of North Texas, Texas Southern University, and the University of Texas at Arlington.

 

Other African countries with over 1,000 students in the US during the period include Ghana with 3,049, Kenya with 3,019, and South Africa with 1,813.

 

The Open Doors report is published annually by the Institute of International Education in partnership with the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

 

The Open Doors report also indicated that the number of international students at US colleges and universities surpassed one million for the first time during the 2015-2016 academic year, which is an increase of seven per cent from the previous year to a new high of nearly 1,044,000 students.