The Director, International Marketing and Relations, Sharda University, Mr. Prasoon Kashyap, tellsERIC DUMOabout the performance of Nigerian students in the institution and other sundry issues
Formany Nigerian students abroad, racism is an issue to contend with, how has your university tackled that aspect?
Every society considers its own culture as superior. It’s a way of feeling good. And generally speaking, every society also likes to consider itself as superior, and that others are the inferiors. That is a general thing, but in India, the problems are basically because of certain number of Nigerians indulge in drug running and other crimes. Apart from that, in general, we are a very tolerant society. Of course, the way I have lived in Nigeria, I know Nigerians are a happy people; while Indians are more conservative.
What is the performance of Nigerian students enrolled in your university?
We have over 500 Nigerian students in Sharda University, India. We are very strong in three areas: Management, Engineering and Allied Health Sciences. The reason is that most modern techniques of practising have been adopted in all the three schools. We also have very good laboratories and highly qualified teachers. Management is a changing science and we are aware of what is happening in management practices around the world. The school of Allied Health Sciences is particularly relevant because we have 820-bed specialist hospital and we have students who are studying allied health sciences courses like MRIs, X-rays and imaging technology. Irrespective of whatever image Nigerians may have cultivated for themselves outside their country, we generally find Nigerian students studying in the university to be full of drive. They are seeking academic excellence, and we do believe that some of them will go well ahead, and we can say we are proud of the students.
How do you think the Allied Health Science school can help contribute to health care development in Nigeria?
There are identifiable gaps in the health care system in Nigeria. Some hospitals have equipment and, no personnel. Some neither have diagnostic equipment nor personnel. Some hospitals are administratively not very good. This is why we have the kind of health care system we have in Nigeria. Sometimes, the diagnosis is the problem, while in other cases; some don’t have the proper equipment. But when we have properly qualified doctors and trained medical staff, consequently, they can double up and things can get better. I don’t think money is the problem in Nigeria. It’s the lack of trained people which poses a serious challenge to health care delivery. Machines are important but within a year, they can break down. Sometimes, the operators in charge of those machines don’t really know how to operate them properly. They have the degree but they really have the experience. One benefit of studying at a good university is the graduate will have an edge over others.
Are you saying a lack of knowledge is what causes wrong diagnosis?
Yes. You can put in place the best equipment and put a person who doesn’t really know how to operate it in care of it, it amounts to nothing. But a trained person would be able to see what the doctor has recommended properly, would be able to act on the doctor’s instructions, generate the right code from the machine, which would be more accurate. So, you cannot discount such people.
Are you saying that we need to train and re-train our health care personnel to be able to stop the problem of wrong diagnosis?
Yes. A good university will train those people properly.
Does it mean that if our health care personnel develop themselves more, we can begin to look at getting to where India is today in terms of health care development?
Not immediately, because there are infrastructural problems related to that. The doctor to patient ratio in Nigeria is very poor. In the United Kingdom, they have one doctor to 200 patients, while in Nigeria you have one doctor to about 100,000 patients. I don’t know whether the statistics are right, but that’s the idea. That needs to change. Of course, in Nigeria, we think we can run everything on generator, but that isn’t so. It’s just not true. The power has to be better. Imagine you are in the middle of a surgery and the generator goes off. The patient dies. You have power systems and you have power backup system in hospitals, typically. The equipment maintenance, which I would say is the problem all over Africa, is not just a Nigerian problem. If you have to buy the proper machines, it costs so much more to have reliability. For example, if you want to establish a typical hospital in India, it might cost you about $80m to $90m but if you want to establish the same hospital with the same facilities here in Nigeria, it might cost you about $300m. This is because you need more robust equipment, the higher construction cost, the higher maintenance cost and the cost of running it, is also higher. Add to the cost of running the generator and maintaining it. That’s higher. In other places, an effective primary health care system will not allow a phenomenon called undiagnosed or misdiagnosed illness to arise. As we speak, we are also trying to tie up with some states like Kano, Delta, and possibly Ebonyi. What we are trying to do is tackle the issue of primary health care, not as a university, but as a hospital. We have a medical college, and we have a hospital.
You said over 500 Nigerian students are in your institution, how many are studying medicine and related courses?
About 30 to 40 of Nigerian students are currently studying medicine in Sharda University. A number of students are studying M.Tech and M.Sc. in various fields, and Kano State Government sponsored about 165 of them. Some of them are studying Business Management, some engineering, but health care is quite popular among students coming from Africa and Nigeria, simply because of the health needs. A graduate from our university may wish to have a diagnostic centre; thus, he goes to a village or a larger community to set up a medical laboratory. I believe that it will be useful, because if cases are diagnosed at that primary level, even by entrepreneurs, it will be useful. One of the reasons why the cost of providing medical care is so high here in Nigeria is that there are not enough doctors, not enough diagnostic centres and medical health professionals. There is the need to have more competitions to bring the cost down. For us at the university, that is the gap we are trying to fill. We have a teaching hospital where our students are being trained and I think it will be good for students coming from Africa. I’ve been around Africa; Tanzania, Uganda and some parts of West Africa. Not only will the growth in this area bring down medical cost, it will reduce mortality rate and increase mortality age. That is one issue that is very important, because people having responsibilities cannot just die, it’s not done.
Have you noticed that the drop dead syndrome has become very prevalent in Nigeria in recent times?
There are not enough dieticians or nutritionists in Nigeria, apart from the inadequate number of doctors. People need to be counselled as regards their nutrition. It’s not good to be fat. All those big bellies that people are very proud of in Nigeria, is all fat, and it’s not good. I’m making a very simple point, and the point is a person who has family and other responsibilities cannot just drop dead.
Are Sharda University’s certificates recognised?
Yes and the certificates are accepted. We offer good and affordable education. The facilities are reasonable, adequate and modern, but a university is not about facilities. It’s about what you teach. We would like people here to look at India as a destination for education, for one simple reason that India is solving some of the problems that Nigeria is facing now. Let’s say someone is going to the United Kingdom or United States to study, how much of what he does in the US is relevant to Nigeria? Immigration is no longer very easy. A person going from here to such places cannot be sure of getting a job after his degree. It’s not very easy anymore. The queues are getting longer. What I’m saying is that the relevance of education comes when you see people fighting similar problems, finding solutions and, they can come back and incorporate some of those solutions.
Apart from Kano, what other states are you planning to partner with in the country?
We are looking at Delta and Ebonyi. But most importantly, we would like to see our efforts in at least one of these states productive, unlike trying to do multiple states at a time, making a big issue out of it and at the end of the day telling stories and giving excuses.
But are Nigerian students enrolling for management programmes?
We have management courses, and we have postgraduate programmes as well. We also have Applied Economics at undergraduate level, and it is a little different from the usual economics that we have. It’s like estimating how much of an item a notable supermarket would be selling in about five years— the demand quotient. That’s applied economics. It’s an excellent course developed by a colleague of mine, which is good, because Nigeria needs all sorts of specialisation to help the country grow.
Do you run online courses?
We don’t. There are plenty online books. If our university does not offer online courses, it does not affect the price of fish in the market. But what I’m saying is online courses are meant for people who already have the desire to know. It’s not good enough for a person who is sleepwalking into an academic area. You want to know about journalism or you want to know what is happening somewhere else, you already have the drive. On an average, I spend about three to four hours every day scanning the Internet, reading various things. I have the drive. I mean I could be doing that in my area of interest. But online minus the learning desire is equal to zero.
In Nigeria, one of the problems we have is that small and medium scale enterprises which hardly survive. Do you have MBA courses that can help people develop expertise in sustaining SMEs?
MBA courses are not normally that direct. I also know some other issues that are peculiar to Nigeria. I’m here because I believe we have the power to change something as part of our small and meaningful contribution. As to why those SMEs run down, it’s one factor. People don’t identify themselves with their businesses. I don’t have to say anything more than that. Business, as an entity, is very important, it needs to be nurtured. You can’t be stressed about having to run that business. It has to be a pleasure.
Source: punch
