Ghanaian PhD students in UK reject High Commission oath-taking plan

The leadership of Ghana Scholarships Secretariat-sponsored PhD students in the UK has rejected a proposed oath-taking exercise by the Ghana High Commission, calling it discriminatory, unnecessary and inconsistent with existing scholarship requirements.

The exercise is intended to confirm that students will return to Ghana when they complete their studies. However, the students say they have already signed bond forms committing them to return and have questioned why an additional physical process is being introduced.

In a statement issued on Friday, August 7, the student leadership said it was concerned about the proposed exercise and the circumstances surrounding its announcement.

“We are aware of our annual progress review, which the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat (GSS) undertakes to validate, assess our members’ progress and renew their scholarship letters,” the statement said.

The students said the annual review had traditionally involved responding to questions from an academic panel and submitting documents, including previous scholarship award letters and records showing academic progress.

Because the universities attended by beneficiaries are spread across the UK, they said the review had generally been conducted remotely by the GSS Accra office, working with the Education Liaison Officer in the UK.

They therefore questioned the decision to organise a physical oath-taking event at venues that have not yet been specified.

“Therefore, it is strange that a letter is originating from the Ghana High Commission on social media asking students to attend an oath-taking event at unspecified locations in the UK,” the statement said.

The students also complained about delays in tuition fee payments and stipends. They alleged that a number of beneficiaries had gone several months without receiving payments they are entitled to under their scholarships.

“We find this development to be a deliberate effort by the management of the scholarships to delay the statutory payments of students’ tuition fees and stipends, which have been in arrears for several months,” they alleged.

They further challenged the reported use of Section 31 of the Ghana Scholarship Authority Act, 2025, in relation to their scholarships.

The students said their awards had been made under the former Ghana Scholarships Secretariat, before the new legislation came into force, and questioned whether its provisions could be applied retrospectively.

“We note with concern the consistent reference to Section 31 of the Ghana Scholarship Authority Act, 2025, a recent regulation that was not in effect at the time the scholarship letters were awarded to our members,” the statement said.

According to the student leadership, the terms governing scholarship progression, renewal and the requirement to return to Ghana were already set out in the award letters and bond forms signed by beneficiaries.

“The issue of our members returning to Ghana is clearly captured in the bond form we signed before the scholarship letters were awarded,” they said.

The students also disputed the High Commission’s interpretation of Section 11 of the Oaths Act, 1972 (NRCD 6). They said the law did not specifically require Ghanaian students sponsored to study in the UK to swear an oath before a diplomat.

“We categorically reject such misrepresentation of the Oaths Act because the said regulation does not state that sponsored students in the UK must swear before a diplomat,” the statement said.

They described the proposed exercise as discriminatory because students supported through other Ghanaian scholarship schemes had not been included.

“We find the High Commission’s letter discriminatory, particularly given that there are other Ghanaian students on the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) scholarships who are equally studying in the UK, but have not been included in this proposed oath-taking exercise,” they said.

The student leadership has advised its members not to attend the exercise until the concerns raised have been addressed. It stressed, however, that it was not opposed to initiatives designed to improve the administration of scholarships.

“Our members can only participate in this oath-taking exercise after the itemised points below have been made explicitly clear in the oath and fulfilled entirely,” the statement said.

Among the students’ demands is a firm timetable for clearing all unpaid tuition fees and stipends. They also want an assurance that beneficiaries will not be required to return to Ghana until all outstanding payments have been settled.

In addition, they are seeking guarantees that students will receive appropriate support to reintegrate into Ghana’s labour market after completing their studies. They want every student to receive a completed copy of any document signed during the proposed exercise.

The students have also called for the validation process to be conducted online, arguing that this would reduce costs for both the scholarship administration and beneficiaries.

“In the spirit of frugality, we call on the management of the scholarships to minimize expenditure and ensure that the state does not incur any ancillary cost in the validation process,” they said.

“To that end, we suggest that the validation process be reverted to the online submission of forms through Google Forms to save cost.”

They said several months without statutory allowances had left members unable to afford travel to a physical venue.

“We wish to inform the Ghana High Commission that since our members have not received their statutory allowances for several months, we are unable to transport ourselves to any venue for such a manual validation exercise,” the statement said.

The students also alleged that some beneficiaries had been evicted from their accommodation because of the financial difficulties caused by the unpaid allowances.

“Since most of our colleagues are now homeless due to eviction from their accommodations, we believe that a more efficient way to validate the award letters should be through an online form system,” they said.

The leadership raised further questions about Letters of No Objection (LONO), which the scholarship authority has reportedly issued to students seeking two-year hands-on work experience in the UK.

They questioned why the letters continued to be issued after the Director-General of the Ghana Scholarship Authority had reportedly criticised the arrangement during radio and television programmes.

“Why is he also issuing the same letter to students who have completed their studies, if it’s not right and beneficial?” they asked.

The students also sought clarification about reported agreements between scholarship managers and some UK universities over tuition fee payments.

“Why is the management of the scholarship and the High Commission on an agreement for a 10% tuition fee payment for students in universities such as the University of Nottingham and Birmingham if they are unaware of sponsored students in the UK?” they asked.

The student leadership has urged the Ghana High Commission and the Ghana Scholarship Authority to explain the legal and administrative basis for the oath-taking exercise, clarify when outstanding tuition fees and stipends will be paid, and set out the conditions governing students’ return to Ghana.