Oversea Scholarship Students Face Fresh Hurdles

The first batch of Rivers State overseas medical students to
the United Kingdom under the sponsorship of the State Sustainable Development
Agency (RSSDA) have suffered admission setback.

The affected students of 2008/2009 batch were denied direct
admission to study medicine due to non-possession of A-Level certificates to qualify
them.

This was part of the findings of the House of Assembly
Committee on public complaints and petitions, following a petition to the House
titled “The Plight of Rivers State Government Sponsored Medical Students in the
United Kingdom 2008 Batch to Complete their MBBS Programmes.”

Presenting the report of their findings at the floor of the
Assembly yesterday, the committee chairman, Hon Michael Okey-Chinda, disclosed
that the students for the above reasons were enrolled into various foundation
programmes in order to prepare them for direct admission into medical schools
in the U.K.

Hon Chinda hinted that due to the late commencement of the
preparatory programmes, coupled with the U.K. government’s limited space for
International students, none of the 2008/9 batch students succeeded in gaining
admission to study medicine.

According to him, as a result of this development, the
students were subsequently admitted into school of Bio-medical sciences of
Newcastle University, UK and obtained Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) degrees in
pharmacology, physiology, Bio-chemistry, Micro-Biology Genetics, Bio- medical
Sciences collectively referred to as premedical degrees”.