About the Book

Before You Leave for Europe and North America

Before You Leave for Europe and North America: A Rough Companion Guide For (African) Students; ISBN 14259743X; paperback, 8.5x11; xiv, 242 pages, publish by AuthorHouse, USA.

This comprehensive reference monograph provides guidelines for students (particularly of African origin) who wish to study in Europe, North America and Oceania. It also caters for those who are already studying in these regions. It focuses on key aspects such as security tips, health, accommodation, networking, travels, preparation for departure, students’ visas, access to resources, internship, writing scientific papers, tips on studying, taking notes, writing term papers, theses, clothing, cultural shocks, tuition, internship, and transportation.

Presented as a continuous narrative, this monograph is a key document for those with or without the Internet facilities. It is hoped that those who have them would work with it in tandem. It lists nearly all Western Universities, private and community colleges, cardinal literature that shaped the Western civilization and African cultures. Based on interviews, secondary sources, experience and observations, this work is scholarly with endnotes, an index and appendices. The last includes lists of inventors considered as motivation to students in general.  Besides, it is full of dos and don’ts; likely problems to be encountered, suggested solutions, recommendations, comprehensive terms in Latin likely to be encountered and used in scientific literatures.

This is perhaps the only document of its kind that summarizes and makes available facts to enable Africa and other foreign students to study with ease in Western environments for their mutual benefits. Some college and / or university calendars or handbooks and leaflet or digital information tend to be too specialized and often ignore cultural differences that might affect students’ performance, especially at the beginning of their studies. This works covers these relevant gaps. Further, it teaches students how to make good use their time and to avoid engagement in practices that are likely to be detrimental to their health and studies.

University professors, counselors, administrators, immigration and counselor officers of various missions abroad will also find this document valuable. It is equally a must to home students who are keen on improving their interrelationship with foreign students because the world is now a global village.

It should be emphasized that the post 9/11 (2001) ramifications and economic migrants who disguise as students to apply for entry visas, have made the EEC and North American countries to have new requirements that are being used to deny visas to potential African and other third world students. One of these is the inability of students to provide evidence of applications to several institutions in addition to the one in which they were admitted. This book helps the students to understand new regulations and provide them with a healthy choice of institutions to apply to.

It is hoped that this will answer for most cultural and educational attaches in Embassies or High Commissions mundane questions often posed by students and other persons traveling to their countries. The VSO, the American Peace Corp Volunteers, the British Council, all foreign cultural centers, NGOs, in your capital cities or economic capitals will find this encyclopedic work relevant in answering common educational questions asked by students from all over the world who want to study in or visit their countries.

Students studying abroad can send to their fellow students back in Africa and/or use it to provide guide to their colleagues back in Africa thereby answering a plethora of education related questions. Furthermore, organizations such as, the WHO, UNESCO, UNICEF, African Development Bank, AU, and ministries of education in various countries, can use this to solve students’ related problems. In fact, it is hoped that any person traveling to these continents, either for business or pleasure, can use this guide for information on climate, clothing, cultural difference, security, immigration issues, and etcetera.

About the Author

Dr. Viban NGO, F.R.G.S., M.C.C.S., was born in the British Southern Cameroons and graduated from the University of Yaoundé, Cameroon. He subsequently pursued graduate studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (L.S.E.), University of London, U.K., and at Algonquin College, Ottawa, Canada. He is a holder of Lic es Lettres (B.sc.Hon.), M.Sc. and PhD (Geography /Cartography) in Economics. Dr. NGO is the author of Cartobibliography of the Cameroon; The Salvage Artifacts of a Pioneer Priest and Ethnographer; G.I.S., Cartography, Designation, and Kuhn; The Scientific Mapping of an African Sovereign; Toponyms and Cartographic Communication in Africa (forthcoming), numerous articles and book reviews.  Besides, he has edited the following works by John Emonts, S.C.J.: To the Grassfields and Highlands of Inner Cameroon; The Joy and Sorrows of African Children; and the After the Dawn (forthcoming). He has taught and worked for both the British and Canadian Governments as an administrator, transport researcher and economic analyst. Presently, he is a consultant in environmental studies, economics, and cartography (G.I.S.) in Gatineau, Canada.