Considering the financial difficulties most students in Nigeria face, it is always a thing of great relief if they are given opportunity for further studies at minimal or no cost to them at all. Most students dreams of post graduate studies have been smashed as a result financial constraints! Mr Babajide Milton a COMMONWEALTH scholarship beneficiary, PhD researcher,graduate assistant, in the University of Manchester,gives important points to note before and when applying for scholarship for post graduate studies abroad, the controversies, the frustration and joy! This interview gives deep insight on scholarship application...
1. Could you please introduce yourself ? I am, Macaulay, Babajide Milton, a Graduate Teaching Assistant and a Final year PhD student studying Environmental Geochemistry and Geomicrobiologyat the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. I hail from Eti-Osa Obalendeon Lagos Island, Nigeria which makes me a Yoruba by tribe. I had my early education at Early-Life Nursery and Primary School, Festac Town, Lagos (elementary);Kabe Science College, Festac Town, Lagos (Junior High); Mercy Model College, Ijaiye-Ojokoro, Lagos (Senior High). I proceeded to the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) in Ondo state, Nigeria for my tertiary education where I obtained a B.Tech. (Hons.) degree with a First-class in Biology and also emerged as the best graduating student in my set in 2010. Thereafter, I was posted to the far end of North – western Nigeria (Kebbi state) for the mandatory one-year national youth service. My place of primary assignment in Kebbi state was the Government Secondary School in Bunza where I taught Biology to secondary school students in classes JSS1-SS3. At the end of the national assignment in 2012, I was recruited by my University (FUTA) as a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Biology as it is the University’s tradition to retain her best students. Few months later, after series of disappointments, I was fortunate to win two international scholarships: (1) The London Metropolitan University Postgraduate Scholarship Award for an MSc degree in Biomedical Science and (2) The Commonwealth Scholarship Award (Shared version) for an MSc degree in Sustainable Environmental Management at the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom. I chose the latter for it offered full funding and had a higher prestige. At the end of my MSc study, I graduated with a Distinction and also emerged as the pioneer recipient of the Best MSc Thesis Award on the Sustainable Environmental Management programme for the 2012/2013 session. I returned to Nigeria immediately after my MSc study and resumed as a Graduate Assistant at FUTA in 2014. Shortly afterwards, I was promoted to the position of Assistant Lecturer as a result of the acquisition of an MSc degree, and so I was given a full-fledged lecturing role to handle. I taught ecology-related courses; supervised undergraduate student research projects; served as the course adviser to the first year students in the department. In September 2015, I was nominated by the Vice-chancellor of FUTA for the CommonwealthScholarship Award (Regular version) to pursue a PhD degree in Environmental Geochemistry and Geomicrobiology at the University of Manchester, UK which I eventually won. Currently, I am in my final year and working hard to wrap up my PhD study at the end of the year. As for non-academic engagements, I manage a Facebook Page, ‘The Shoulders of Giants (TSG)’ dedicated for scholarship announcements and counselling. There are currently over 800 followers on the page. I also initiated the creation of a 13-man research group, ‘Futurists’, established to develop an alternative herbal-based drug for the future, targeted towards Tropical diseases. Currently, the disease in focus is malaria fever which is arguably the fastest killing disease in the world today. The goal is to provide an alternative drug for the commonly-used anti-malarial drugs, Artemether and Lumefantrine. The malarial parasite, Plasmodium, is gradually developing resistance against both drugs, which means the development of an alternative drug for the future is urgent and important. Finally, I am the Founder/Chief Consultant of an online educational consulting platform, ‘iLLUMANIA’, which provides a wide range of educational services such as dissertation writing supervision/ essay coursework guidance; personal statement review; scholarship application support; CV restructuring; career counselling.Please visit our website www.illumania.org for more details.
2. What were you like in High school?
I was made the senior prefect of my secondary school despite my very reserved nature. I guess I earned the position based on my academic performance and general behaviour. I was not excellent in all subjects. My greatest subject-strengths which saw me out-compete others were Biology, Economics, Geography and Agriculture. I was among the top 5 out of 40 students in other subjects such as Chemistry, English Language and Mathematics.I struggled with Physics due to an apathy I developed for it during my pre-High school days. I was also privileged to lead my school’s team to inter-school competitions against other top neighbouring schools such as Home Science secondary school in Lagos and The Bells Secondary school in Ogun state, Nigeria.
3. Who is your role model and why? This is harder to tell in other aspects of my life apart from academics. Academically, I will say the person who inspired me the most was Professor Henry Fadamiro of the Auburn University, USA. He was the perfect role model because he was the first ever student to graduate with a First-class degree in the Department of Biology, FUTA in 1989. His feat was unsurpassed for 20years! As a young boy in the Department, I heard about his achievement and later saw him in my 3rd year. Seeing Prof. Henry physically in the 2007/2008 session was sufficient enough to lift my spirit for excellence and at the end of my 3rd year, I managed to stabilise my CGPA in the First-class region and maintained it till the very day. However, when I needed a mentor for my scholarship application struggles, I got no one. I had to learn on the job. I made huge mistakes but today, they have built me into a mentor to others. 4. What do you do with you free time? In my free time, I love watching movies particularly horror, thriller and action genres. I also love surfing the web for hours to meet new people and to get in touch with latest happenings. As a dedicated supporter of the Manchester United Football Club, I spend most weekends watching Soccer.
5. How did you get information about the commonwealth scholarship? I got to know about the Commonwealth Scholarship through the internet (Google search) and I had downloaded the prospectus since I was in 300Level. I digested the content completely and waited patiently for graduation and NYSC posting before attempting to apply. The Commonwealth Scholarships are full postgraduate scholarship schemes managed by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) but funded by donations from the Commonwealth Governments (i.e. Governments of nations colonized by the British) and the UK Government (through the DFID – Department for International Development), as well as contributions from some UK universities. The Commonwealth Scholarships are ranked among the most prestigious scholarships in the world and as expected, extremely competitive. The scholarship is mainly for graduates from the 53 Commonwealth countries of the world which is the reason the competition is often fierce. There are three versions ofthe Commonwealth Scholarships: The regular, shared and ACU version to middle-income countries. The regular version requires a nomination from either one's Government (through the Ministry of Education) or one's employer (if the candidate is an academic staff of a University). The shared version is called shared because the cost of study is shared between the CSC and the UK host university. The shared version doesn’t require a nomination from the applicant's home country as the UK host universities are the nominating agencies. The ACU (Association of Commonwealth Universities) version to middle-income countries is a relatively new scheme and still unpopular. This version helps applicants to study at selected top universities in middle-income countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Srilanka, Jamaica, Pakistan, etc. All the versions provide full funding covering full tuition fees, living expenses (via the provision of monthly stipends), one-time return ticket for a vacation to your home country for a maximum of one month (only for PhD scholars), full payment of field work expenses (For PhD students with field work), flight fees, visa fees as well as an arrival allowance given 2 weeks after you touchdown. The Commonwealth Scholarships are arguably the juiciest scholarship anywhere in the world!
6. How do you think students could access scholarship opportunities and successfully apply for them? First of all, students need to subscribe to email receipts from established scholarship websites such as scholarship-link or scholarship-info. This will enable them receive daily emails of current scholarship calls. Students also need to get all their documents ready e.g. degree certificates, official transcripts, international passport, test of English (IELTS or TOEFL if required). The next stage is to draw up a list of courses they would like to study at postgraduate level in order of preference. At least they should have 3 courses on the list to help spread their reach. They also need to understand their best strengths (if academic, leadership or social) to enable them specifically target scholarships particularly designed to match their strengths. Most importantly, they should never ever get wary of reading instructions from scholarship providers, as I have realised that kids of the millennial generation are always in a hurry and not patient enough to read to understand.
7. Do you think that the scholarship award is based on merit purely? Of course, I do think it is based on merit (the strength of the candidate’s application). However, there have been claims of politicking and lobbying during the nomination of candidates for the Commonwealth Scholarship (Regular version) by the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja, Nigeria. It should be noted, however, that the final selection by the CSC is undoubtedly based on merit.
8. When do you think students who aspire to get scholarships or study abroad should start preparing? They need to start preparing before they graduate from the University – preferably the penultimate year before graduation. This gives them ample time to draw up an execution plan. Also, most scholarship applications are one year long from form submission to candidate’s selection. Therefore, planning ahead is very vital in order not to waste an entire year. They should also have a list of all the potential scholarships they are eligible to apply for and then begin to design a plan on how to acquire all the documents each scholarship provider requests for.
9. What advice would you give to students hoping to get scholarships? I will advise them to begin the search very early. Most of them these days do not also read to digest information properly before proceeding. I suggest they download relevant scholarship materials, read and understand them clearly first, before attempting to apply. I learned the hard way as I never had a mentor to guide me through the process. I made lorry loads of mistakes and got devastating rejections but learned so much in the process. Therefore, I advise students to get a mentor (if they can get one) in order to learn from their mistakes which potentially prevents the wastage of precious time and reduces heart aches. Such mentors could make the journey to winning a scholarship, smoother and faster. It is also very important to identify the type of scholarship that best suits one’s qualifications or greatest strengths. This will increase the possibility of winning. For example, a student with an excellent leadership record who has a second class upper degree is more likely to be selected for the Chevening Scholarship than for the Commonwealth Scholarship. The Commonwealth Scholarship is more focused on excellent academic performance than leadership (although moderate participation counts).
10. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
Career-wise: Within the next 3 years, I wish to have completed a 2 year Postdoc research or fellowship at a prestigious university outside Europe and Africa. The next 2 years will be spent on another Master’s degree in Toxicology to help complete my transition from core Biology to Environmental Health. Therefore, in a nut shell, I see myself in the next 5 years emerging as a highly competent academic/researcher in Environmental Health, carving my niche in the global science community and contributing my quota to solving some environment-relatedglobal problems. Business-wise: To have transformed iLLUMANIA into a globally-recognised educational consulting brand with associated subsidiaries. Research-wise: For my research group, “Futurists” to have gained the professional confidence for the first human trials of our new anti-malarial Herbal-combo drug.
11. Thanks for your time and contribution You are welcome.
1. Could you please introduce yourself ? I am, Macaulay, Babajide Milton, a Graduate Teaching Assistant and a Final year PhD student studying Environmental Geochemistry and Geomicrobiologyat the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. I hail from Eti-Osa Obalendeon Lagos Island, Nigeria which makes me a Yoruba by tribe. I had my early education at Early-Life Nursery and Primary School, Festac Town, Lagos (elementary);Kabe Science College, Festac Town, Lagos (Junior High); Mercy Model College, Ijaiye-Ojokoro, Lagos (Senior High). I proceeded to the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) in Ondo state, Nigeria for my tertiary education where I obtained a B.Tech. (Hons.) degree with a First-class in Biology and also emerged as the best graduating student in my set in 2010. Thereafter, I was posted to the far end of North – western Nigeria (Kebbi state) for the mandatory one-year national youth service. My place of primary assignment in Kebbi state was the Government Secondary School in Bunza where I taught Biology to secondary school students in classes JSS1-SS3. At the end of the national assignment in 2012, I was recruited by my University (FUTA) as a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Biology as it is the University’s tradition to retain her best students. Few months later, after series of disappointments, I was fortunate to win two international scholarships: (1) The London Metropolitan University Postgraduate Scholarship Award for an MSc degree in Biomedical Science and (2) The Commonwealth Scholarship Award (Shared version) for an MSc degree in Sustainable Environmental Management at the University of Greenwich, United Kingdom. I chose the latter for it offered full funding and had a higher prestige. At the end of my MSc study, I graduated with a Distinction and also emerged as the pioneer recipient of the Best MSc Thesis Award on the Sustainable Environmental Management programme for the 2012/2013 session. I returned to Nigeria immediately after my MSc study and resumed as a Graduate Assistant at FUTA in 2014. Shortly afterwards, I was promoted to the position of Assistant Lecturer as a result of the acquisition of an MSc degree, and so I was given a full-fledged lecturing role to handle. I taught ecology-related courses; supervised undergraduate student research projects; served as the course adviser to the first year students in the department. In September 2015, I was nominated by the Vice-chancellor of FUTA for the CommonwealthScholarship Award (Regular version) to pursue a PhD degree in Environmental Geochemistry and Geomicrobiology at the University of Manchester, UK which I eventually won. Currently, I am in my final year and working hard to wrap up my PhD study at the end of the year. As for non-academic engagements, I manage a Facebook Page, ‘The Shoulders of Giants (TSG)’ dedicated for scholarship announcements and counselling. There are currently over 800 followers on the page. I also initiated the creation of a 13-man research group, ‘Futurists’, established to develop an alternative herbal-based drug for the future, targeted towards Tropical diseases. Currently, the disease in focus is malaria fever which is arguably the fastest killing disease in the world today. The goal is to provide an alternative drug for the commonly-used anti-malarial drugs, Artemether and Lumefantrine. The malarial parasite, Plasmodium, is gradually developing resistance against both drugs, which means the development of an alternative drug for the future is urgent and important. Finally, I am the Founder/Chief Consultant of an online educational consulting platform, ‘iLLUMANIA’, which provides a wide range of educational services such as dissertation writing supervision/ essay coursework guidance; personal statement review; scholarship application support; CV restructuring; career counselling.Please visit our website www.illumania.org for more details.
3. Who is your role model and why? This is harder to tell in other aspects of my life apart from academics. Academically, I will say the person who inspired me the most was Professor Henry Fadamiro of the Auburn University, USA. He was the perfect role model because he was the first ever student to graduate with a First-class degree in the Department of Biology, FUTA in 1989. His feat was unsurpassed for 20years! As a young boy in the Department, I heard about his achievement and later saw him in my 3rd year. Seeing Prof. Henry physically in the 2007/2008 session was sufficient enough to lift my spirit for excellence and at the end of my 3rd year, I managed to stabilise my CGPA in the First-class region and maintained it till the very day. However, when I needed a mentor for my scholarship application struggles, I got no one. I had to learn on the job. I made huge mistakes but today, they have built me into a mentor to others. 4. What do you do with you free time? In my free time, I love watching movies particularly horror, thriller and action genres. I also love surfing the web for hours to meet new people and to get in touch with latest happenings. As a dedicated supporter of the Manchester United Football Club, I spend most weekends watching Soccer.
5. How did you get information about the commonwealth scholarship? I got to know about the Commonwealth Scholarship through the internet (Google search) and I had downloaded the prospectus since I was in 300Level. I digested the content completely and waited patiently for graduation and NYSC posting before attempting to apply. The Commonwealth Scholarships are full postgraduate scholarship schemes managed by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) but funded by donations from the Commonwealth Governments (i.e. Governments of nations colonized by the British) and the UK Government (through the DFID – Department for International Development), as well as contributions from some UK universities. The Commonwealth Scholarships are ranked among the most prestigious scholarships in the world and as expected, extremely competitive. The scholarship is mainly for graduates from the 53 Commonwealth countries of the world which is the reason the competition is often fierce. There are three versions ofthe Commonwealth Scholarships: The regular, shared and ACU version to middle-income countries. The regular version requires a nomination from either one's Government (through the Ministry of Education) or one's employer (if the candidate is an academic staff of a University). The shared version is called shared because the cost of study is shared between the CSC and the UK host university. The shared version doesn’t require a nomination from the applicant's home country as the UK host universities are the nominating agencies. The ACU (Association of Commonwealth Universities) version to middle-income countries is a relatively new scheme and still unpopular. This version helps applicants to study at selected top universities in middle-income countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Srilanka, Jamaica, Pakistan, etc. All the versions provide full funding covering full tuition fees, living expenses (via the provision of monthly stipends), one-time return ticket for a vacation to your home country for a maximum of one month (only for PhD scholars), full payment of field work expenses (For PhD students with field work), flight fees, visa fees as well as an arrival allowance given 2 weeks after you touchdown. The Commonwealth Scholarships are arguably the juiciest scholarship anywhere in the world!
6. How do you think students could access scholarship opportunities and successfully apply for them? First of all, students need to subscribe to email receipts from established scholarship websites such as scholarship-link or scholarship-info. This will enable them receive daily emails of current scholarship calls. Students also need to get all their documents ready e.g. degree certificates, official transcripts, international passport, test of English (IELTS or TOEFL if required). The next stage is to draw up a list of courses they would like to study at postgraduate level in order of preference. At least they should have 3 courses on the list to help spread their reach. They also need to understand their best strengths (if academic, leadership or social) to enable them specifically target scholarships particularly designed to match their strengths. Most importantly, they should never ever get wary of reading instructions from scholarship providers, as I have realised that kids of the millennial generation are always in a hurry and not patient enough to read to understand.
7. Do you think that the scholarship award is based on merit purely? Of course, I do think it is based on merit (the strength of the candidate’s application). However, there have been claims of politicking and lobbying during the nomination of candidates for the Commonwealth Scholarship (Regular version) by the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja, Nigeria. It should be noted, however, that the final selection by the CSC is undoubtedly based on merit.
8. When do you think students who aspire to get scholarships or study abroad should start preparing? They need to start preparing before they graduate from the University – preferably the penultimate year before graduation. This gives them ample time to draw up an execution plan. Also, most scholarship applications are one year long from form submission to candidate’s selection. Therefore, planning ahead is very vital in order not to waste an entire year. They should also have a list of all the potential scholarships they are eligible to apply for and then begin to design a plan on how to acquire all the documents each scholarship provider requests for.
9. What advice would you give to students hoping to get scholarships? I will advise them to begin the search very early. Most of them these days do not also read to digest information properly before proceeding. I suggest they download relevant scholarship materials, read and understand them clearly first, before attempting to apply. I learned the hard way as I never had a mentor to guide me through the process. I made lorry loads of mistakes and got devastating rejections but learned so much in the process. Therefore, I advise students to get a mentor (if they can get one) in order to learn from their mistakes which potentially prevents the wastage of precious time and reduces heart aches. Such mentors could make the journey to winning a scholarship, smoother and faster. It is also very important to identify the type of scholarship that best suits one’s qualifications or greatest strengths. This will increase the possibility of winning. For example, a student with an excellent leadership record who has a second class upper degree is more likely to be selected for the Chevening Scholarship than for the Commonwealth Scholarship. The Commonwealth Scholarship is more focused on excellent academic performance than leadership (although moderate participation counts).
10. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
Career-wise: Within the next 3 years, I wish to have completed a 2 year Postdoc research or fellowship at a prestigious university outside Europe and Africa. The next 2 years will be spent on another Master’s degree in Toxicology to help complete my transition from core Biology to Environmental Health. Therefore, in a nut shell, I see myself in the next 5 years emerging as a highly competent academic/researcher in Environmental Health, carving my niche in the global science community and contributing my quota to solving some environment-relatedglobal problems. Business-wise: To have transformed iLLUMANIA into a globally-recognised educational consulting brand with associated subsidiaries. Research-wise: For my research group, “Futurists” to have gained the professional confidence for the first human trials of our new anti-malarial Herbal-combo drug.
11. Thanks for your time and contribution You are welcome.
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