International student Olusey Elliott enjoyed the hands on experience in the classroom at the University of Illinois at Springfield.
Elliott is a graduate student of Management Information Systems who grew up in the city of Lagos, Nigeria, where he lived with his parents and younger brother.
Prior to moving to the United States, Elliot attended some of the most expensive schools in his country.
“I had my undergraduate in one of the best schools in Nigeria, the private university,” Elliot said. In Nigeria we have public universities and private universities. The public universities are not so good because it is funded by the government. Private universities are funded by individuals or churches.”
After Elliott finished his undergraduate studies in Nigeria, he started working. He went from teaching computer studies to working at a Human Resources company as an information technology person and then worked at a bank.
He decided to move to the U.S to further his education and to become independent.
“I want to be a man on my own,” he laughed. “The standard of living in the U.S is better than the standard of living in Nigeria, that’s undeniable.”
Jobs was another major reason to leave Nigeria for the U.S.
“Its quite difficult to get a job in Nigeria,” he said. “It seems there are better job opportunities here.”
When it comes to a college education, there is a major difference between academics in America and Nigeria.
“(In Nigeria) my exams at the end of the semester makes up 70 percent of my grade,” he said. “While here I have assignments every week. I think the system here makes me learn more.”
Elliott’s main goal is to stay in the U.S and find a job.
“I would love to settle here; I don’t think I want to go back anytime soon,” he said.
Like Elliot Graduate student Himanshi Makhija, wanted a more well-rounded education.
Makhija traveled from Delhi, India to the U.S to continue her education in Business Administration.
From receiving an degree from UIS, it will give her an opportunity to work anywhere in the world.
While living in India, Makhija pursued her master’s degree. Her class schedule in India was different compared to her schedule at UIS.
“We had to be in college for several hours, like we had an interconnected classes like one after the other,” Makhija said. “Here it’s different, we only have two -day class that’s only in late evenings.”
Makhija prefers attending night classes because it is a better way to get involved on-campus, such as an on-campus job, she said.
For Makhija, coming to the U.S for the third time was a culture shock.
“For the first two times it was not a culture shock because it was only a visit of 20-22 days,” she said. “But for this time when I’m alone here, I miss my family, at times I miss everything I use to have back there in my home.
Makhija likes the hands on experience UIS is providing in her program, she said.
“The curriculum in-depth gives you actually the real knowledge what you have to gather before joining into your business,” she said.
Makhija wants to join her father’s business in the future.
Similar to Makhija, James Nguyen, 20 is an undergraduate student from Vietnam studying Business Administration.
Before moving to the U.S, Nguyen attended college in Vietnam which influenced him to attend school at UIS.
“My university in Vietnam has connected to UIS,” Nguyen said. “Second reason is I like the education environment in the U.S.”
As a student, he likes attending UIS because of the overall structure and environment of the university.
“UIS has lower tuition fee, small campus, friendly international students, beautiful campus view,” he said.
Even though this is his first time attending school in the U.S, Nguyen did not experience any culture shock.
“Before I moved to the U.S, I already went to Europe and other places,” Nguyen said. “so I understand a little bit about foreign nature.”
After graduating from UIS, Nguyen is thinking about going home and starting his own business, he said.
For all three international students, Elliot, Makhija, and Nguyen are looking forward to having a promising career in the future.
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