UK Fees Halt Ghanaian PhD Students’ Thesis Submissions
Prince Komla Bansah, president of the Ghanaian PhD cohort in the United Kingdom, warned on Sunday that dozens of Ghanaian doctoral candidates cannot submit their completed theses because the Ghanaian government still owes universities £32 million in tuition fees.
Speaking on The Probe on JoyNews, Bansah explained that while many scholars have satisfied all academic requirements, their universities have blocked portal access and will not process thesis submissions until the arrears are cleared.
“The PhD cohorts, some of them have finished their theses, but they are unable to submit because they have been blocked by their universities, and so they don’t have any access to the university’s portal. These are just a summary of the situation,” Bansah said on the programme.
He further disclosed that the affected students have gone forty‑eight months without receiving the mandatory stipends promised under their scholarship agreements, forcing some to rely on food banks while others struggle to meet rent payments.
Ghana currently owes UK universities £32 million in unpaid scholarship bills, a debt that continues to ripple across the academic community. In July, Youth Development and Empowerment Minister George Opare Addo admitted the government inherited a staggering £700 million in unpaid scholarship obligations.
In addition to the doctoral cohort, undergraduate Ghanaian students in the UK face a looming crisis. Universities have issued final notices demanding that all outstanding tuition fees be settled by 26 January 2026, otherwise the students must either leave the country or submit fresh applications to regularise their status.
Official letters sent to affected students across several institutions state that failure to clear the arrears by the deadline will result in removal from their programmes and possible loss of visa status.
The situation underscores growing pressure on the Ghanaian government to honour its financial commitments to overseas scholars, a step seen as essential to safeguarding the nation’s academic reputation and ensuring that Ghanaian talent can continue to contribute to global research.
Stakeholders urge the Ministry of Education and the Treasury to expedite payments, warning that prolonged delays could derail the careers of a generation of Ghanaian researchers and diminish future scholarship allocations.
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