Ghana’s questionable foreign scholarship schemes: Proposal for reform

One day, in a cafeteria at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, I had a riveting conversation with a friend of mine over lunch.

My friend, a doctoral student from China, said he wasn’t planning to visit home during the winter break.

I asked him why not. And his answer shocked me.

My friend said if he went home, it might take him forever to return because he had a one-year student visa and would need to apply for a new visa to return to the United States.

In the US, doctoral studies typically last for five to seven years. I was thus surprised that his visa was valid for one year only, while mine, for example, was for four years. 

Even more surprising, some Chinese students going to study in the US needed to get a kind of US national security clearance.

The assumption was that some of these students might engage in academic espionage, inappropriately transferring technology being developed in US universities to China, putting US economic and national security interests at a disadvantage.  

Do students from Africa ever need to get a US “national security clearance” when going to study in the US? Probably not. US government officials likely assume that most African students, upon their return home, wouldn’t have access to resources to put their skills to meaningful use, even if they were motivated or curious enough to acquire them.

They may be right. Those who can’t use their skills pose no threat to others. 

As is often said, China partly plotted its meteoric rise from poverty to economic growth on the back of its investments in science and technology.

Decades ago, China started sending its “best and brightest” students to the West in droves to acquire higher education in science and technology.

Upon graduation, they would return to well-equipped, state-of-the-art laboratories in China to apply their knowledge and transfer their skills to their younger generation, who would in turn transfer them to those after them, aided by government research funds.

China’s strategy may have paid off, as it is now one of the world’s most competitive places for innovation, contributing to its manufacturing prowess.

How Ghana failed

Like China, Ghana has been sending its students to the West for decades. Yet, unlike China, Ghana has little to show for this investment. Its scientific innovation and manufacturing bases virtually don’t exist.

Reasons abound, key among them being that Ghanaian students who go to the West to acquire scientific knowledge often return home to empty or near-empty laboratories.

Although some centres of scientific excellence have recently emerged in Ghana, they are few and far between to bring meaningful change on their own, especially without access to local funding sources to support their work in the long term.

Thus, our tragic story may continue unless there is an urgent change in course. 

This year, the Fourth Estate, an investigative journalism outfit, alleged that Government of Ghana (GoG) scholarships for foreign studies may not be going to the most qualified and that many scholarship recipients have no intention of returning home after their studies. To be sure, these allegations have been around for years.

Thus, the GoG foreign scholarship schemes, in some ways, have been operated as “free-emigration, get-out-of-Ghana cards” often awarded to the politically connected who are desperately looking to emigrate for greener pastures.

Undoubtedly, Ghana has not witnessed significant scientific innovation in its institutions despite decades of sending students abroad for training. 

One way to verify this is to track how many patents, for example, are awarded yearly to local Ghanaian scientists for their innovation. Hence, it is time to reform the GoG foreign scholarship schemes and take a new turn.

Reform

The GoG sponsors its foreign scholarships through two main funding sources: GoG resources (hundreds of millions of Ghana cedis annually as per the Fourth Estate’s revelations), and bilateral scholarships from foreign governments.

Here, I propose that the GoG establish a National Research Fund starting in 2025, using the annual budgetary allocations for foreign scholarships for a start. Our scientists can then apply for these funds to purchase equipment and reagents.

To make it more transparent and equitable, a formula could be devised to distribute these funds directly to universities and research institutions. 

The Auditor-General can then audit their use.

Enough competent scientists are toiling locally who must be supported to innovate and transfer their skills to the younger generation, for a sustainable Ghanaian society.

The proposed reform, if implemented, will also halt the embarrassing annual ritual of having GoG scholarship recipients stuck abroad for lack of timely disbursement of their stipends.

Those who need to study abroad can still do so by applying for competitive, fully-funded foreign/bilateral scholarships administered directly by the development partners, as some Ghanaians have done.

Or they can take advantage of teaching/research assistantship programmes at North American universities.

Further, to acquire new skills that are not available locally, local students and scientists can travel for exchange programmes and short courses, which often last for a few months. It is time to end the questionable GoG foreign scholarships.      

The writer is a scientist at the University of Cape Coast. 
E-mail: iagorsor@ucc.edu.gh