By Jesse Ampah Owusu
Accra, Oct. 1, GNA – Mr Rolf Olson, Acting Chief of Mission, United States Embassy, says Ghana currently ranks 14th in the world among international students pursuing studies in the U.S.
He said Ghana was only behind countries like China, India, Nigeria and Japan, who had much larger populations.
Mr Olson made these remarks at the Education USA College Fair Accra, organised by the Embassy, in collaboration with Education USA on Friday at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel.
The fair had about 30 universities from the US participating, with many patrons attending the session.
The fair is to enable patrons, who were mostly students, engage with admission officers to get firsthand information about their universities.
Mr Olson said prior to the COVID-19 pandemic there were only 4,000 Ghanaian students in the US as compared to the current 12,800 students.
He said the success could be attributed, in part, to the fair which had been running from 2021 to date, exposing Ghanaians students to U.S. universities.
“The number more than tripled in a six-year period. That is due to the tremendous work of course, as I said, of Ghanaian students, parents, and educators. But it also reflects the fact that we have prioritised, as much as we can, adjudicating student visa cases,” he added.
He said they strived to adjudicate as many applications as possible with the resources they had, saying they encouraged students to apply for visas in the context of the college application process.
“American universities compete globally for talented students. And we want Ghana’s brightest to see the United States as a serious, welcoming option. The ties between the U.S. and Ghana extend well beyond the classroom,” he added.
Ms Marilyn Owusu, Senior Education Adviser, Education USA, U.S Embassy, said this year’s fair was being held on two days, the first day was in Kumasi and the second day in Accra.
She said there were expecting not less than 3,000 patrons at the Fair in Accra, after a successful one in Kumasi.
Dhairya Gohel, a representative of University of Vermont at the Fair, said he was impressed with the engagement of the patrons.
He encouraged the students to choose the U.S. for their future education due to the variety of progarmmes the universities offered.
“This allows them to choose the course combinations according to their interests no matter the programme of study,” he said.
“For instance, a student has the opportunity of customisation, that is choosing a major and minor course from different departments. I have a lot of students who want to do biotechnology major and a music minor.”
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe