Ghana’s government-sponsored PhD students in the United Kingdom are on the brink of academic collapse, with their cohort president issuing a desperate call for over GH¢5.7 million to cover unpaid tuition fees amid threats of eviction, withdrawal, and deportation.
Prince Komla Bansah, president of the 110-strong group of scholars pursuing advanced degrees across UK universities, laid bare the crisis on JoyFM’s Super Morning Show Monday. He revealed that 36 students alone owe approximately £400,000 (about GH¢5.7 million at current rates) in tuition for the 2025/2026 academic year—now nearly three months in—leaving many locked out of university systems and teetering on the edge of expulsion.
“We’ve submitted all the data to the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat, but I understand they don’t have the money, so they are not able to look at the data,” Mr. Bansah said. “The ball is now in the court of the government or the finance minister to really engage all of us.”
The plight extends far beyond fees. Delays in monthly stipends, some unpaid for up to 48 months, have plunged students into dire straits: evictions over rent defaults, reliance on food banks, and halted research progress. At least 10 scholars have already been withdrawn or suspended, with others awaiting potential Home Office deportation notices.fe85ee Another 36 urgently need scholarship renewal letters, delayed for nearly 10 months due to what the group calls “administrative neglect” by the Secretariat—preventing re-enrollment and progression reviews.40e10c
Data from 86 affected members shows at least 30 have received zero payments toward their 2024/2025 tuition, exacerbating a backlog that some trace back to the program’s inception.ca76b8 “This means some of us have not received any payment from the Ghanaian government since the start of our PhD programmes,” the cohort stated in a November 7 press release, decrying the fallout on mental health and Ghana’s international reputation.a711df
The crisis, inherited from prior administrations but unaddressed under the new Mahama government, stems from ad hoc management and funding shortfalls at the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat (GSS), established in 1960 to nurture top talent abroad.19b51a While partial payments have trickled in, they fall “grossly insufficient,” according to the students, who represent Ghana’s brightest minds in fields vital to national development.87b843
Mr. Bansah, speaking from London, underscored the human cost: “Timely financial support is essential to ease the growing hardship.” He urged Finance Minister to intervene swiftly, warning that without action, the program risks collapsing entirely—derailing careers and squandering investments in Ghana’s future leaders.
As pleas echo from UK campuses to Accra’s corridors of power, the scholars’ story highlights a broader strain on educational remittances amid economic pressures. With the GSS’s mandate to build human capital hanging in the balance, the clock ticks toward irreversible losses for these stranded trailblazers.
