Registrar of Scholarships, Mr Kingsley Agyemang has disclosed that the Government of Ghana through the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat is partnering the French Embassy to offer full scholarships to Ghanaian students at Master’s and PhD levels on merit and needs basis.
Addressing the media on Monday, Mr Agyemang disclosed that nominations have finally being opened by the Scholarships Secretariat for persons who qualify to apply for the joint scholarships between the Scholarships Secretariat and the French Embassy which was launched in November.
Mr Agyemang disclosed that the fully funded scholarship will have the Government of Ghana pumping an amount of an amount of €1.6 million with the French Government also contributing €1 million.
The Registrar indicated that 70 percent of the scholarship would go into the Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) programme, and the remaining 30% for non-STEM programmes.
He said the budget will determine how many students can have the opportunity at all levels to travel to France, but may be more than 30.
“The government of Ghana will provide a counterpart funding and it is in four spheres. We are going to have a full-time post graduate studies in the various courses that are related to STEM and non-STEM. We are going to have the year abroad for students in our various public university who are studying French. We have full-time PHD programmes. We have the short courses like the diplomas, certificates. In all these even though the medium of instruction is not compulsory that it is going to be French, the French language is a prerequisite and that is the caveat.
“There is a good bonding regime. And this is the first bilateral time we are going to have a joint selection process. All these are gear towards transparency. So, there’s a team from France and Ghana that will sit together on the selection panel and interview or nominate suitable Ghanaians. All Ghanaians are encouraged to apply to this scholarship. Applicants must have at least, Second Class Upper and above to enjoy the scholarship,” among others.
Ban
In a related development, the Registrar disclosed that the Home Office of the United Kingdom has deported and banned from the United Kingdom (UK) for ten years, four Ghanaian students for forging documents ostensibly awarded by the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat.
The four are Priscilla Omari Konadu (University of East Anglia), Esther Tieku(Kent University), Gifty Appoh (University of Greenwich) and Andy Kwesi Enos(University of Reading).
Mr Agyemang stated that the four have been handed over to the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service for further investigations.
Explaining the issue, Mr Agyeman said though the victims were able to manoeuvre their way through to get visas, due to the solid system the Secretariat has put in place, it was able to detect that those applicants had nothing to do with the outfit, and immediately informed the schools they had enrolled in, leading to the withdrawal of their tier 4 visas and repatriation.
Checks
According to him, further checks revealed the victims were highly close to the corridors of power. He however cautioned such people to desist from acts as that which damages the image of the country and the President. Again, he said that the law will deal mercilessly with anybody found doing that.
“We get a lot of complaints where unscrupulous people have attempted to lure people that they would be able to assist them get scholarships and have taken huge sums of money from them. Most of the cases we have done arrests that are with the BNI, the CID, and the National Security.
“To mention, the UK alone for the 2019/2020 academic year, we had complaints of people issuing out fake scholarship award letters to suspecting applicants. They were able to get away through the visa and went to the UK. But, because of the system we’ve put in place, no outlay of cash was paid to them – that is their tuitions were neither paid nor their cost of living. When we got wind of them, immediately we informed the schools that they had already enrolled and immediately the school withdraw tier 4 visas and they were repatriated to Ghana and currently assisting the security agencies in investigation. It was not just repatriation. They have been banned from entering the UK for ten years,” he said.
He also cautioned government officials that the laws of Ghana will equally deal with them when apprehended.
“I also want to caution those who are very close to the corridors of power or party apparatchiks that if you are caught the law will deal with you,” he noted.
