Editor’s observe: This text is the third in a collection of three, a part of a examine exploring the structural components driving outbound pupil mobility in Nigeria and Ghana, inside the bigger context of developments in sub-Saharan Africa. Learn Part 1 and Part 2 to know the complete scope of this examine.
Outbound pupil mobility from Ghana has grown considerably, with the U.Okay. and U.S. being the most well-liked examine locations, adopted by Canada, Germany, and more and more China.
Scholar mobility traits in Ghana are akin to these in Nigeria, if on a smaller scale. The variety of worldwide diploma college students from the nation of 34 million has grown persistently, from 5,270 in 1998 to twenty,300 in 2021 (a rise of 285 p.c). As in Nigeria, the UK, the previous colonial energy, and the US have been the most well-liked examine locations. Germany and Canada have been the subsequent well-liked vacation spot international locations in 2021. However it’s probably that Canada has since overtaken Germany, and that numbers within the U.Okay. will decline, given the not too long ago enacted visa restrictions. As of this writing, the U.Okay. has not but printed knowledge for 2023.
Earlier than the Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine was among the many prime examine locations of Ghanaians, primarily for college students looking for medical schooling at a relatively low value. As famous, China doesn’t report comparable pupil statistics, however is more and more well-liked for college students from Ghana and different African international locations. Chinese language authorities reported that there have been 5,552 Ghanaian college students within the nation in 2016. African international locations like Senegal and South Africa register as prime examine locations of Ghanaians as effectively.
Enrollments of Ghanaian college students within the U.S. and Canada surged over the previous few years, mirroring the traits noticed for Nigeria. Ghanaians at present make up the second quickest rising group of worldwide college students in Canada, after college students from Guinea, one other West African nation. The variety of lively pupil visas held by Ghanaians jumped by totally 402 p.c between 2021 and 2023, from 1,840 to 9,235.
Regardless of this huge enhance, the U.S. stays the extra well-liked examine vacation spot amongst Ghanaians. Ghana is the second-largest African sending nation for U.S. establishments; the variety of Ghanaian college students grew by 157 p.c between 2021 and 2024, from 4,179 to 10,749. Some 65 p.c of those college students are male.
The components that trigger Ghanaians to check overseas are akin to these in Nigeria. Ghana has a historical past of outmigration. It’s the nation with the second-largest variety of emigrants in West Africa after Nigeria. The truth is, a 2021 Gallup poll discovered that there are solely six international locations on this planet the place extra individuals want to relocate to a different nation. Most emigrants are typically youthful and educated. Bettering employment prospects and escaping financial hardship are the most typical motivations to go away, adopted by pursuing schooling.
Unemployment, underemployment, and too few alternatives for expertise growth are key challenges for younger individuals in Ghana. Not lower than 36 p.c of individuals between the ages of 20 and 24 have been unemployed in 2023. Tertiary attainment improves the prospects of employment in Ghana, however one in five of the nation’s college graduates was out of labor in that 12 months.
These financial challenges come amid robust inhabitants development and speedy urbanization. Whereas fertility charges have begun to gradual lately, Ghana’s inhabitants nonetheless will increase by round 2 p.c, or about 700,000 individuals, annually. Greater than half of the inhabitants is underneath the age of 19. The nation is projected to double in inhabitants measurement, to 70 million, inside 36 years. Accra will likely be a megacity with near 10 million individuals by 2050.
Supplier Panorama
Ghana’s schooling system has ballooned in latest a long time however struggles to fulfill the exploding demand for schooling. Whole schooling spending as a share of GDP has fallen from 30.6 p.c in 2011 to 13.2 p.c in 2022. State debt as a share of GDP reached an all-time excessive in 2022. Fiscal allocations by the federal government prioritize the varsity system, whereas the upper schooling sector is more and more underfunded.
Since the1990s, Ghana’s authorities has progressively shifted public increased schooling financing to personal households by permitting public establishments to gather more and more increased tuition charges. Most not too long ago, charges have been hiked by 15 percent in 2022—a controversial transfer that resulted in protests at affected universities.
The variety of increased schooling establishments (HEIs) in Ghana grew by 48 p.c inside simply six years. Public universities, which enroll the majority of scholars, grew from 9 in 2018 to 16 right now. The creation of one other 4 new public universities was introduced in 2024. Apart from these universities, there are 294 further HEIs, together with nursing faculties, instructor coaching faculties, and college faculties with out degree-granting standing.
Non-public establishments account for a big portion of Ghana’s tertiary stage suppliers. After Ghana liberalized its college system within the Nineties, the variety of non-public HEIs spiked from solely two in 1999 to over 120 right now. This pattern however, enrollments at non-public establishments as a share of total enrollments dropped from round 20 p.c in 2012 to 11 p.c in 2022. Excessive tuition charges at these establishments inhibit their development.
As in Nigeria and different African international locations, non-public HEIs often have restricted capability. The internationally ranked Ashesi College, one of many prime non-public universities within the nation, for example, enrolls just some 1,500 college students. Usually, non-public HEIs are smaller suppliers of lesser high quality. They assist soak up demand by college students locked out of the aggressive and extra extremely regarded public college system however aren’t a substitute on the essential scale.
TNE provision in Ghana is rising. Overseas suppliers view Ghana as a promising market because it’s a politically steady English-speaking nation with massive untapped demand. 4 overseas establishments are accredited as “registered overseas suppliers” by Ghana’s Tertiary Training Fee, together with the U.Okay.’s College of Sunderland. One other British establishment, Lancaster College, in 2024 introduced that it might open the first U.Okay. department campus in Ghana. Total, Ghana has been the fourth-largest U.Okay. TNE market in Africa since 2021.
Distance schooling supplied by home suppliers is more and more well-liked in Ghana as effectively. Distant studying has expanded at double-digit development charges lately. In 2018, some 15 p.c of Ghanaian college students have been enrolled in distance mode, in keeping with the most recent accessible government statistics. However Ghana’s digital studying infrastructure continues to be comparatively underdeveloped, particularly in rural areas. Distance schooling is usually concentrated in liberal arts and enterprise packages at two main public universities.
Progress within the Variety of College students and Capability Constraints
The whole variety of college students in Ghana has skyrocketed greater than fivefold inside 17 years, reaching 635,000 in 2022. Between 2018 and 2022 alone, tertiary enrollments jumped by 28 p.c—a pattern that coincided with a rise in outbound pupil flows by 24.5 p.c between 2018 and 2021.
Regardless of this drastic enhance, it’s unlikely that Ghana will bridge its capability gaps in increased schooling within the near-term future. Ghana’s tertiary GER has improved markedly over the previous few years and exceeds that of Nigeria by a number of share factors. However nonetheless, solely 20 p.c of individuals between the ages of 18 and 23 have been enrolled in increased teaching programs in 2022.
In contrast to Nigeria, Ghana doesn’t have a centralized admissions system, in order that total admission charges are more durable to find out. Nevertheless, in keeping with some calculations, lower than one-fifth of candidates on the College of Ghana, the nation’s largest college, are at present being admitted.
As in Nigeria, graduate schooling is underdeveloped in Ghana. There have been solely 34,150 college students enrolled in grasp packages, and one other 4,076 in doctoral packages, in 2022. This compares with 90,400 grasp college students and 62,430 doctoral college students in Malaysia, a rustic of comparable measurement with 34 million individuals.
This low output of graduates with superior levels impedes the expansion of the college system the place extra school are urgently wanted, and teacher-to-student ratios are excessive. The dearth of postgraduate choices additionally signifies that many Ghanaians head abroad for graduate faculty. Totally 75 p.c of Ghanaian college students within the U.S. are at present enrolled in grasp or doctoral packages. Quick-growing numbers of Ghanaians additionally examine in terminal diploma packages in China—a pattern strongly pushed by scholarship funding.
Progress of the Center Class
Ghana compares favorably with different African international locations by way of revenue ranges. The nation’s center class has grown considerably by most estimates. Higher-middle-class customers, defined as individuals incomes between $300 and $1,500 a month, is now stated to make up round 14 percent of Ghana’s inhabitants. Client spending on schooling is on an upward trajectory and projected to extend within the coming years.
On the similar time, Ghana is affected by comparable financial shocks as Nigeria. The depreciation of Ghana’s forex, the cedi, is a damaging issue that raises the prices of worldwide schooling for Ghanaian college students. In 2024, the cedi declined by 14 percent towards the U.S. greenback. Macroeconomic volatility will probably result in short-term fluctuations in outbound pupil flows in an in any other case favorable recruitment market with robust development potential.
