One of the favorite mantras of Andela, the software developer platform, when it launched in Nigeria as a training program in 2014, was that “talent is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not.”
As the internet has accelerated the flattening and accessibility of the world, the most exceptionally talented people have all [apologies, Lebron James] tried to take their talents to wherever they can generate the most value. This isn’t new or unusual but in recent years, as wealthier nations in the West have battened down their borders in response to waves of domestic anti-immigrant sentiment, even the exceptionally talented get shut out. Research cited in Alexander’s story below shows Africans applying for U.S. student visas are being turned down in huge numbers and at disproportionately higher rates than students from other regions.
Those odds are not about to improve anytime soon given Africa’s fast-growing young demographics. There will always be a limited number of university places in the West, particularly at the top schools. And there are probably tens of thousands of African students every year keen on the opportunity to learn alongside their intellectual peers or at well-equipped schools. It shows the urgent need for more investment in higher education across the continent though, realistically, governments on their own can’t keep up with population growth. Governments should provide incentives for more private universities. There are also other models, such as major Western universities opening campuses in African countries or new universities using online platforms, to reach many more students as the telecommunications infrastructure improves.
It is imperative for governments, the private sector, and policymakers to take up the challenge of how to improve the opportunities at home because there’s little doubt the talent is there.
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We’re reopening our opportunity for a reporter in Johannesburg. We’re looking for an ambitious individual to cover southern Africa with a particular focus on South Africa. In just eight months, Semafor Africa has become the continent’s leading high-quality journalism brand with over 100,000 newsletter subscribers and hundreds of thousands of web users. Now we want to hire a reporter with the instincts and sources to provide distinctive coverage of business, economics, culture, and South Africa’s geopolitical place in the world. That person will deliver a steady stream of exclusives and insightful stories based on access to key powerbrokers in business and politics. The role requires a self-starter who will constantly generate ideas and scoops and possess a pan-African curiosity for original stories from the SADC subregion.
🟡 Please apply here and include a memo outlining your vision for how you would excel in this role and improve Semafor Africa’s coverage.
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Alexander Onukwue
Seven in 10 West Africans turned down for U.S. student visas
THE NEWS
Africans applying to study in the United States face higher rates of visa refusal than people from other regions, a report based on data from the U.S. government, UN and World Bank said.
The report looked at U.S. visa refusals for applications from every continent and showed that the rate of refusal increased to more than one in two (54%) in 2022 for African students from 44% in 2015. By contrast, refusal rates were constantly under 10% in Europe and mostly under 35% elsewhere.
Southern Africa, where the average refusal rate for the period reviewed is 12%, is the exception within the continent. In 2022, African students from that region had lower U.S. visa refusal rates than South American or Asian students.
But very high refusals for West African students place Africa atop the overall chart. Last year, seven in 10 applicants for a U.S. student visa from West Africa were refused. The data was published by U.S. higher education research company Shorelight and the non-profit Presidents’ Alliance group.
KNOW MORE
International student enrollment in the U.S. has shot up 72% since the turn of the century. There were almost 1.1 million such students as of the 2019/20 academic year. Most foreign students in the U.S. are from China (35%), India (18%), and South Korea (4%). Nigerians are sub-Saharan Africa’s major representatives with 1%, or about 12,860 students.
ALEXANDER’S VIEW
The authors question whether the increase in refusals reflect “an overall negative public narrative toward international students and immigrants in general, especially those from certain countries and regions.”
While refusal rates elsewhere held steady between 2016 and 2020, a 15% rise for Africans coincided with former President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration stance, including a travel ban that affected Nigeria, and culminating in his infamous description of African countries, Haiti and El Salvador as “shithole countries.”
Many Africans want to leave their countries for security and seemingly better opportunities in North America and Europe. Pursuing higher education is often an attractive route in the absence of a permanent residency or second passport. One consequence is that a higher share of sub-Saharan immigrants than native-born Americans have some college education (as of 2018). College-educated immigrants have been repeatedly reported to be good for American productivity.
Yet, student visa refusals are on the rise for Africans. Whether it stirs a greater supply of better education institutions on the continent, from localized U.S. universities to higher quality private schools, remains to be seen. In Rwanda for example, the presence of Carnegie Mellon University’s $12 million Africa campus (opened in 2011) and the African Leadership University (opened in 2017) is turning the east African country into an alternative to studying in western countries.
