France woos more Ghanaian students - 500 Currently studying
A total of 500 Ghanaian students are currently studying in France, Campus France, a French governmental agency, has said.
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The Deputy Director of Campus France, Paris, Ms Beatrice Khaiat, who made this known, said although the number of students was good, Ghana and France could do better together.
“It’s good, but we are far away from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada who welcome most of your students. We can do better together,” she said.
Ms Khaiat said that at the opening of this year's Ghana-France Higher Education and Research Conference in Accra.
The four-day conference, which happens to be the sixth, is being organised by Campus France, the French higher education institution, which helps and assists students or people wishing to study in France and by the French Embassy in Ghana.
A French delegation of 12 higher education establishments, including business schools, engineering schools and public universities are attending the event.
Promotion
The aim is to promote mutual understanding between French and Ghanaian higher education establishments and create exchanges between them to discuss cooperation opportunities for student and faculty exchange programmes, as well as the development of joint research projects.
Ms Khaiat said together with the embassy, Campus France organised two such meetings in 2019 and 2021.
"Those events have built new bridges between Ghanaian and French institutions.
In the meantime, the number of Ghanaian students coming to France increased by 33 per cent," she said and that the organisation's principal mission was to promote French higher education abroad.
Last year, she said 85 scholarships were delivered by the French Embassy to Ghanaian students in France.
Commitment
"France is clearly committed to welcoming international students.
Since 2018, we have drawn up a policy called ‘Bienvenue en France’ meaning ‘Welcome to France’, and aiming at attracting 500,000 international students to France by 2027.
“France welcomes more than 400,000 international students from all around the world and is ranking sixth in terms of international students,” she said.
Ms Khaiat said it was no longer necessary to speak French to study in France and that the country offered more than 1,500 programmes taught in English.
“Another very important thing to know is that in France, the cost of studying at public universities is very low compared to Anglo-Saxon countries. A Bachelor costs 2770€ a year, a Master 3770€, and a PhD only 380€,” she said.
A Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, who opened the conference, said the Ministry of Education remained committed to strengthening educational partnerships with France.
He said since 2010, the collaborative efforts between the French Institute for Research and Development (IRD) and Ghana had addressed research around infectious diseases, among others.
Collaboration
"The Ministry of Education is resolute in creating pathways for more academic collaborations with France and francophone institutions," he said.
The French Ambassador to Ghana, Jules-Armand Aniambossou, said there was a need for France and Ghana to listen and learn from each other for their mutual benefit.
He said a reason why the conference was being held was because of the high-quality educational institutions in both countries.
The acting Deputy Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Augustina Akonnor, said the institution had had a longstanding relationship with higher educational institutions in France.
She said international partnership creation was the future and that most universities across the world had envisioned that international academic partnership played an integral role in fostering a global higher education ecosystem.
