Sensus Divinitatis

I’ve thought a lot about your wish to travel to Canada, and although I don’t know all the circumstances, I have some concerns. You may have been encouraged by colleagues and family to take an education program in the West. It may seem like a golden opportunity, and it offers you a new status in life. Still, there are important things I want you to carefully discern before you set yourself to Canada.

I have written on the phenomenon of Brain Drain from Africa here, and the same applies to any other developing country. To focus on Africa for a moment, Brain Drain is why our organization is dedicated to training African leaders in African schools that know the context of Africa and address its needs. Going to an African school builds up the African higher education system and keeps the tuition money in African institutions and nations. Too often we see promising students from developing countries come to the West for education and then stay here. In effect, we take the brightest and best out of poor countries, depleting them of their best resource for development.

This brain drain is not right or righteous.

So here are some thoughts. First of all, the cost of study here is high, and it is high in part because of escalating apartment/household rents, rising food costs, and the necessity of pricey health insurance. Many prospective students from the Global South have little idea about how these other expenses will add significantly to their total cost beyond the burden of international tuition.

There is in fact an international student crisis in Canada–including a lack of adequate housing, few jobs for students, and the quality of education has gone down considerably. The government has allowed too many students in, and higher education institutions have been greedy for international student tuitions, and some classes are packed. Some of this is quite shameful, and much of it pushed by economic reasons alone. The quality of living and studying has been very poor, if not a disaster for some of the students who give up so much of family, home, and finances to be here. The government is now putting caps on student permits for universities. Here is just one article on just one aspect of this big mess in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). But there are many, many other articles on-line on this very issue. It has been an escalating problem and students come to Canada completely blind-sided.

I won’t mention the problems of language, food differences, and other cultural differences. This can be a great learning experience, but also frustrating if you do not have much experience in cross-cultural travel. Don’t forget–it will be cold in winter! This is something many do not really fully understand, but it will be a very different climate and require more costs in clothes and heating your residence. The weather gets grey and wet and dark, and can be quite unpleasant for months on end.

Do your research into your journey overseas. Check and double check whatever promises the institution you are depending on for education has given you. There can be hidden fees and unexpected expenses. If you are expecting a part-time job to help with your finances, be sure you can work here legally. Don’t forget you are coming here to study and learn and train, and not work at menial jobs.

Be determined to return home to serve your country if you do come here. The temptation to stay can be great, and mostly for material reasons. If you must stay, be sure to establish connections back home that will benefit your home country and its education system. Do your graduate research on a developing country. Think of ways of shifting the attention of research interests beyond the West.

Students in all disciplines work with my organization, Global Scholars Canada. One common background is theology, and so I will put a few suggestions below for Africans who are interested in theology. I am not familiar with all the options below myself, but these have been commended to me. Similar options may exist in other parts of the globe, and the more students that attend these institutions, the better they will become in time.

• Consider your own denominational home. For example, in Nigeria there is the Nigerian Baptist Convention, and they have a major seminary, Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, which is north of Ibadan in the west central area of the country. They have doctoral programs on both Christian ministry and areas of theology/philosophy. This seminary also has an online headquarters in Abuja. This is a seminary I am told that is widely respected in Nigeria.
  
• Beyond Nigeria, you could consider doctoral studies at the Akrofi-Christaller Centre in Accra, Ghana. This is a Reformed Presbyterian Centre that was established more than 40 years ago by Kwame Bediako. They are not a large school; but they do quality work with their doctoral students.
  
• We (GSC) have a master’s degree program in Biblical Studies at The University of The Gambia, in Banjul that we support. It is small and just starting, but it is accessible to many in West Africa.
  
• If you want to consider East Africa, then there are doctoral programs associated with several denominations in Kenya. Also, Uganda Christian University also has a doctoral program in theology. If you want to consider South Africa, there is a massive online doctoral program in theology that operates under UNISA. With UNISA, you could do online study in the areas you are seeking while remaining in Nigeria. Alternatively, there are still strong programs in theology/Biblical studies at the University of Stellenbosch and a few other spots in South Africa. You could check out Blomfontein and the university there. We also have a professor from Canada at Mukanyo seminary in Rustenberg (and it has more campuses, too).
  
• Finally, if you need financial assistance, we do not have funds for Africans to come to Canada. We send our scholars to Africa instead and provide scholarships for Africans to attend the University of The Gambia at take Christian studies there. Still, I can think of two entities that you might investigate. One is Langham Scholars (John Stott’s legacy organization). They support select doctoral students in completing their degrees and efforts to publish their research, but again, they focus on building up Africa and other developing countries. The second is Scholar Leaders. This is a global group as well; and those selected include several African graduate students.
  
• I don’t have contact information handy for all these groups and institutions, but you may google them if you wish to pursue them.

Again, dear student, I do not know your situation, but I do know a lot about international education, brain drain, and the situation here in the GTA, Canada. May God guide you towards his best hope for you and also his best hopes for your country. There are large forces at work beyond your individual circumstance that are not easily discerned, and you best be as informed as you can be. May your prayers lead you into God’s best way and God’s best future.

In Christ,
Peter Schuurman