Fair on UK Universities opens

Accra, Nov. 18, GNA - The British government this year gave Ghana 70 million pounds in support of the country's development programmes, Mr Gordon Wetherel, British High Commissioner, said in Accra on Friday. The amount is to be used in areas such as education, health, public service reforms, HIV/AIDS, trade development and rural roads among other areas.

Mr Wetherel said this at the opening of the Second Education UK-Ghana Fair in Accra where 27 universities have mounted stands to showcase their institutions and to offer admission to Ghanaians seeking to further their education in the UK.

Forty officials from the various universities are attending the two-day exhibition.

Mr Wetherel noted that the implementation of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education and the capitation grant would increase enrolment in schools and with good performance Ghana's education system was moving towards meeting the millennium development goals. He said there were more than 20,000 post-graduate courses available in the UK covering wide variety of subjects.

Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Minister of State in-charge of Tertiary Education, who opened the Fair, said Ghana had a long association with British university education, adding that Cambridge, Oxford and London were considered the height of educational achievement.

She said by the 1960s the University of Ghana had produced sufficient graduates to lead to British universities being transformed for Ghana's purposes as the vehicle for post-graduate education. Ms Ohene said it was a good idea that UK universities had come to Ghana to showcase what was available and the new trends to enable Ghanaians who could afford to make informed choices. Twenty-seven universities have mounted stands at the international conference centre and a number of UK university admission seekers are there to make enquiries.

Mr John Payne, Director British Council, said there was no better way for Ghana and UK to relate than through the presence of Ghanaian students in the UK.

He said 67 per cent of students, who pursued courses in the UK, were funding their own education and the 33 per cent came from scholarships.

Professor Raj Gill of Middlesex University, said students who met the requirement could be given immediate admission. Students from some senior secondary schools in Accra participated to learn about the UK university admission process.