Eritrean Government limits higher education programs for its citizens to Sudan, China and India

Radio Erena: 02 October 2015

The Eritrean Commission for Higher Education is reportedly involved to be sending Eritreans to only Sudan, China and India for higher education.

According to the news confirmed by Radio Erena sources from the country, the government is only working with those countries’ higher education institutions because the chances of Eritrean students abandoning the government is slim as those countries are believed to have stricter return rules after the completion of education

.

The government has been denying exit visas to many Eritrean students who have applied on their own and got accepted in many U.S. and European universities.

Although there were human resource development programs which were initiated by the UNDP, the Eritrean government had discontinued the programs after many Eritrean students who were sent to South Africa for high education had abandoned the government.

It is to be noted that most of the Eritrean students who were sent for higher education to South African, Italy and many other European countries between the early 2000 and 2004, have never returned back.

Eritrean government had been rejecting projects funded by many donor countries that focus on rebuilding the human resource to world standards for the past eight years due to excessive abandonment by many citizens who were previously sent for higher education.

However, in the past two years, it is seen to be engaged in sending citizens for higher education to Sudan, China and India following an agreement reached with those countries.

Considering its economic interest in Africa, China is pledging 100, 000 scholarships to African students.

According to the sources, 80 Eritrean students were sent to China for high education in the last few years, and a total of 160 were sent to Sudan and India.

The Eritrean higher education institutions and other government institutions have been suffering from lack of well trained scholars and professionals. This is believed to be caused due to abandonment by Eritreans students who were sent abroad for high education.
====================================================================