I read from the news - 234next.com on 4 February 2011, that the Swiss Government has a soon-to-unfold agreement with the Nigerian Government, to offer Scholarships to five Nigerian Students annually, to study in Nigeria and Switzerland. According to Andreas Baum, theambassador of Switzerland to Nigeria, Switzerland and Nigeria will formally conclude a migration partnership in less than two weeks - by February 14 2011 precisely.
At the inauguration of a new factory by Nestle Nigeria (operationally present in the country for 50 years) in Ogun State on Thursday, theambassador said the partnership will be concluded during the planned visit of Odein Ajumogobia, the foreign affairs minister, to Berne on February 14 2011.
"The memorandum of understanding on a migration partnership has a pioneering character which will bring cooperation between Switzerland and Nigeria to a new level. The partnership, which is designed to acknowledge both the opportunities and challenges of migration, is thefirst of such agreement between Switzerland and an African country," the Ambassador said.
Mr. Baum said the Swiss Embassy looked into private initiatives andtraining projects by business operators and found Nestle's Nigeria Technical Training Centre in the Agbara factory an excellent opportunity to build upon because it targets at developing young people and contributing towards the growth of Science and technology in Nigeria.
In that regard, The Swiss Ambassador made a formal announcement that Switzerland has decided to establish a scholarship for five Nigerian students annually at the new Nestle's Nigeria Technical Training Centre.
The scholarship will be used to provide vocational training in the field ofElecto-Mechanical-Automation Engineering.
In addition, the five best students from each promotion will have the opportunity to participate in an additional training module of several months in Switzerland, in the framework of training programmes of Nestle's headquarters.
On the other hand, The Swiss Government generally awards three types of scholarships annually for foreign students to study in Switzerland, through the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (FCS).
* University Scholarships (Swiss universities and Federal Institutes of Technology),
* Arts scholarships and
* University of applied sciences scholarships.
These scholarships provide graduates from all fields with the opportunity to pursue postgraduate studies or research in Switzerland at a public funded university or recognised institution.
Students from the following African countries were invited to apply for the Swiss Government University Scholarships 2011-2012 (Swiss universities and Federal Institutes of Technology) excluding Nigeria:
Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Morroco, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Tunisia.
** Arts scholarships and University of applied sciences scholarships are currently Not available for the African Students.
With such agreement between the Swiss and Nigerian Government, it is hoped that Nigeria will be included in the list of eligible countries for the Postgraduate University Scholarship in the next round of application for 2012/2013 academic session.
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