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General News of Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Source: Daniel Kaku
2019-07-16
GEPA expects foreign students to come to Ghana to buy and consume our education services.
As part of its broader goal of promoting goods and services of Ghanaian origin, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), the national OPC responsible for developing and promoting non-domestic exports. Traditional (NTE), a, together with the Nigeria-Ghana Business Council, has sponsored 10 Ghanaian universities to undertake a student recruitment campaign in Nigeria.
The campaign that drew some of Ghana's best universities took place in the cosmopolitan city of Lagos, the oil enclave of Port Harcourt and the federal capital of Abuja.
Among other considerations, the initiative, led by a national CPO, aimed to commercialize Ghana's offer in higher education to target groups in Nigeria.
The Authority is fundamentally convinced that this mode of export pursued by universities (called Mode 3) is an important means of earning foreign currency for the nation.
Indeed, GEPA expects foreign students to come to Ghana to buy and consume our education services.
Recognizing the major contribution of the sector to the economy, the GEPA strategy, derived from the National Strategy for the Export of Non-Traditional Services and the National Export Strategy, highlighted a coordinated and more focused approach. the promotion of higher education and the creation of higher institutions. Learning serves as an attraction pole for students from West Africa and beyond.
Afua Asabea Asare, CEO of GEPA, said that a more focused strategy is needed to increase the number of foreign students in our higher education.
"Steps have therefore been taken to increase GEPA's support to the service export sector," she said.
She firmly views education as a major exportable service that should be promoted and positioned in Ghana 's export ecosystem.
Thanks to strong promotion by GEPA and other stakeholders, the number of foreign students is expected to increase significantly in the near future for the country to gain huge foreign exchange resources.
Participating Ghanaian universities expressed their immense gratitude to GEPA for this initiative and expressed their optimism for a better future momentum.
About 700 students and other audiences, including parents and guardians, interacted with the universities to understand the courses offered and to search for local admission opportunities.
The participating universities are Ashesi University, University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Wisconsin University College, Entrance University, University of Energy and natural resources, Central University College, University of Mining and Technology. (UMAT) and Ghana University University College (GTUC)
Perspective
Ghana's services sector has always contributed significantly to the country's GDP, highlighting its relevance for economic growth and job creation. Among the major sectors of the economy's services are the telecommunications and banking sectors, computer services, maritime services, education, among others.
Ghana's education sector is the preferred destination for Western education in the sub-region. With an estimated population of about 370 million, the ECOWAS market is a gold mine of educational services that has not yet been exploited.
The preference for Ghana is even more pronounced with regard to the demand for education in English. This goodwill has transformed our educational institutions into meccas for foreign students. It is therefore imperative that Ghana exploit this desire to obtain substantial foreign exchange earnings.
It is also important to note that the more foreign students attend these institutions, the more it is possible to subsidize cross-subsidies for Ghanaians.
At present, Ghana has quite good higher education institutions, ranging from polytechnics to universities offering various university programs structured to align with the global semester system.
The Ghana Export Promotion Authority has developed a service export strategy that aims to strategically rationalize and position the service sector in the NTE portfolio.
The main sectors currently promoted are education, medical tourism, professional services and computer services.
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