- UK-based Ghanaian PhD students face delayed fees and stipends
- Student leader criticises government’s slow response
- Repeated petitions to Scholarship Secretariat yield little progress
The President of the UK-based association of Ghanaian PhD students, Prince Komla Bansah, has criticised the government for what he describes as a lack of urgency in addressing prolonged delays in the payment of tuition fees and stipends for Ghanaian doctoral students in the United Kingdom.
Speaking to JoyNews, Mr Bansah said the situation has become dire, with many students experiencing significant hardship as a result of the non-payment of their entitlements.
“Our intention is not to bring embarrassment to our country, but there is clearly no seriousness in resolving this issue. Students are being left out in the cold, unable to secure accommodation because stipends have gone unpaid for years,” he said.
He added that he sees little prospect of a reversal of the final decisions taken by authorities on the matter.
Mr Bansah noted that several students have been waiting for more than a year to receive financial support, a delay that has reportedly resulted in evictions from university accommodation and exclusion from critical academic activities. Some students, he said, have been forced to depend on food banks to meet their basic needs.
According to him, affected students have repeatedly petitioned the Scholarship Secretariat for assistance, but minimal progress has been made, leaving many struggling to sustain their studies in the UK.
The cohort is now calling on the relevant authorities to act swiftly to prevent further disruption to students’ academic progress and welfare.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sabah Zita Benson, has urged the students to remain patient, assuring them that efforts are underway to resolve the issue.
“They should be patient. I am confident that by the end of this quarter, some of these issues will be resolved. I have been personally following up with the Scholarship Secretariat, and once funds are released, we will be able to settle these obligations,” she said.
