Post by Trade Coach on Jul 29, 2012 13:50:23 GMT 1
LAST year alone, Ghana’s non-traditional exports bagged in about $1.7 billion for the country.
According to experts, this remarkable achievement was the result of an enterprise development drive.
Ghana’s traditional exports are usually described as including cocoa, gold and timber.
The non-traditional export commodities include fruits, cashew, handicrafts, aluminium products, electricity, canned tuna, textiles, drinks, pharmaceuticals and plastic items.
These products are exported to countries like The Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, United States and other West African countries.
But perhaps on e major non-traditional export that most Ghanaians, particularly analysts, have not yet recognized is the educational sector. Indirectly, Ghana is said to be exporting huge sums of educational products in the form of admissions of foreign students into our tertiary institutions.
In fact, this so-called non-traditional export drive began several years ago. Ghana may be attracting a large number of foreign students into the country owing to a number of factors.
These include the relative strength and depth of its educational system, following some 50 years of investing annually at least 30 per cent of recurrent expenditure into this one sector.
Equally important is the political stability of the country, the peace prevailing in most parts of the country, the friendliness and hospitality of its people, good road infrastructure in the main cities, improving utility coverage in terms of telecoms, water and power, and comparatively good housing and hostels for students.
Of course, historically too, Ghana’s premier universities, such as the University of Ghana, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Cape Coast, have made names for themselves and have graduated a number of foreign students over the years, who have gone out to become unofficial ambassadors and evangelists of the quality of education in Ghana.
New Universities
With the upsurge of private universities, which have a financial need to increase their student populations, the merits of marketing Ghana’s educational resources overseas has become quite important. Such new tertiary institutions as the Central University College, Dominion University College (DUC), Ashesi University College, and Valley View Wisconsin University all recognize the need to admit some foreign students onto their campuses.
If, according to some Ghanaian students at the University of Ghana, 20 per cent of the student population there are Nigerian, then one cannot be surprised when it is claimed that some private universities have more than 50 per cent Nigerian students.
In addition to Nigeria, other foreign students throng in from Togo, Cameroun, La Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. In some instances, students from the United States and the European Union apply for admissions here in Ghana. And many Ghanaians resident abroad in such far off places as Japan, Australia and Canada ensure that when it comes to time for their children’s junior and senior high school education, they bring them to Ghana to live with relatives and go to school. As the old adage goes, “Pity the man or woman in Ghana who has no classmates”.
In the case of the Dominion University College (DUC), it is the realisation of the increasingly internationalized structure of the tertiary system in Ghana, that the new university is making a conscious policy decision to recruit a good number of its Governing Council members, as well as faculty from overseas.
Currently, on its Governing Council are such distinguished individuals as a former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Dr. Jendayi Frazer; a former Zambian Vice President, Dr. Nevers Mumba; a former Minister of Education of Nigeria, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili; and a former United States Assistant Trade Representative for Africa, Mrs. Rosa Whittaker Duncan-Williams. In addition, several of the faculty members are foreign nationals who will teach on a distance basis and Ghanaians who have resided for long periods overseas.
After a cursory assessment of the situation, one can only suggest that authorities of our public and private higher institutions of learning should re-strategise their tuition plans to provide quality education that aims at providing employable skills to both local and foreign students and a way of earning foreign exchange for the country.
Foreign students
Admittedly, Ghana is said to be earning fairly huge foreign exchange on the educational sector as an indirect non-traditional export. Although, there are no available documented figures in terms of foreign cash-flows on the sector, it is believed that the sector has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy over the last few years.
Most Ghanaian universities, for instance, charge a premium for foreign students, and some even charge Ghanaians with lower-than-preferred examination results a ‘foreign student fees”. Most foreign students are also known to be the ones who occupy the most expensive public or private hostels on or near various university campuses.
Their lifestyles and expenditure patterns also tend to be often higher than their Ghanaian counterparts. It is time, therefore, that the Government Statistician, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), capture the facts and data on Ghana’s educational exports and acquaint everyone with the hard facts.
Advantages
In fact, education as an export commodity has many advantages. The most obvious one is that foreign or guest students stimulate the economy. For example, the location of the University of Ghana at Legon has created demand for hostels in and around the university. This has also created a lot of job opportunities for the country’s real estate industry. Again, auxiliary services such as the provision of consumable products and food items have created a lot of jobs for many Ghanaians in that catchment area.
After the graduation of these foreign students, the system should make it flexible for them to stay on in Ghana, leading to “brain gain”. In other words, they should be made to work in the country, if possible.
This gain can be evident in entrepreneurship by the foreign graduate in order to create job avenues for our people, as well as augment those created by the locals. In fact, the retention of such foreign graduates makes lots of economic sense in that the host-country reaps the fruits of other countries’ toil.
This is how the United States, Australia, the UK and other countries have prospered, by relying on a foreign immigrant population that is highly educated and trained.
Furthermore, the long-term benefit of making education an export commodity is that the country takes advantage to influence the consumption patters of the next generation.
Thus, the host nation creates a future market for her goods and services as well as political ideas. It is said that President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe taught at Fijai Secondary School, Sekondi; Gambia’s first President, Sir Dawda Jawara, studied at Achimota School; the first President of Namibia, Dr. Samjoma also had some tutorials at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ); and former Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Yakubu Gowon, General Olusegun Obasanjo and some current and past senior Nigeria Army Officers had training at the Ghana Armed Forces Staff College at Teshie.
There is no doubt in mind that their studies and academic work in Ghana would have influence their policy and other decisions regarding Ghana once they found themselves in positions of importance and leadership.
Investing in education may be easier than in products. It is obvious that Ghana does not have the resources to build factories for our teeming unemployed youth, but we certainly have the brains that drive education. More so, certain services are hard to replicate, which make educational investment attractive in the long run.
Players in the educational sector can build schools and higher institutions of learning that can meet global educational needs. We need to focus on the global market in terms of education, since the local market is nearly almost saturated.
Government and private sector need to deliberately promote education as a leading non-export commodity the same way we promote cocoa and timber. Australia is one of the few countries that exports education in the world.
Solutions
Ghana’s solution to its economic problems may lie in sectors we take for granted like education and we can learn from the Australian experience. It is important that we build quality schools and improve curricula that aim at attracting students from all over the world. In this regard, it is my opinion that players in the educational sector should be encouraged to develop innovative ways of exporting education and attracting foreign exchange for the country.
Interestingly, one major player and a new entrant into the educational scene and which is currently playing its card well is the Dominion University College (DUC).
Even as it prepares earnestly to admit its pioneer students in September this year, the university has been described by many as an outstanding institution due to the programmes to be offered and its infrastructure.
DUC is a Christian university based on the tenets of Biblical principles and beliefs. The university has recruited top-notch professors and experienced lecturers to handle small-size classes.
The university has ultra-modern lecture halls suitable for teaching and learning. In line with its vision and mission, DUC also encourages productive exploration of knowledge, creativity, as well as the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge to impact positively on students.
The university is open to people of all race and creed, and seeks to establish itself as one of Ghana’s finest private Christian universities. As already indicated, it has begun by attracting some powerful and influential non-Ghanaian educators onto its Governing Council and faculty.
In conclusion, let us priorities education and make it one of the leading non-traditional export commodities of the country. Again, let us not forget the adage “if you think education is expensive try ignorance.”
Source: www.ghana.gov.gh/index.php/news/features/14831-education-as-ghanas-non-traditional-export
According to experts, this remarkable achievement was the result of an enterprise development drive.
Ghana’s traditional exports are usually described as including cocoa, gold and timber.
The non-traditional export commodities include fruits, cashew, handicrafts, aluminium products, electricity, canned tuna, textiles, drinks, pharmaceuticals and plastic items.
These products are exported to countries like The Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, United States and other West African countries.
But perhaps on e major non-traditional export that most Ghanaians, particularly analysts, have not yet recognized is the educational sector. Indirectly, Ghana is said to be exporting huge sums of educational products in the form of admissions of foreign students into our tertiary institutions.
In fact, this so-called non-traditional export drive began several years ago. Ghana may be attracting a large number of foreign students into the country owing to a number of factors.
These include the relative strength and depth of its educational system, following some 50 years of investing annually at least 30 per cent of recurrent expenditure into this one sector.
Equally important is the political stability of the country, the peace prevailing in most parts of the country, the friendliness and hospitality of its people, good road infrastructure in the main cities, improving utility coverage in terms of telecoms, water and power, and comparatively good housing and hostels for students.
Of course, historically too, Ghana’s premier universities, such as the University of Ghana, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Cape Coast, have made names for themselves and have graduated a number of foreign students over the years, who have gone out to become unofficial ambassadors and evangelists of the quality of education in Ghana.
New Universities
With the upsurge of private universities, which have a financial need to increase their student populations, the merits of marketing Ghana’s educational resources overseas has become quite important. Such new tertiary institutions as the Central University College, Dominion University College (DUC), Ashesi University College, and Valley View Wisconsin University all recognize the need to admit some foreign students onto their campuses.
If, according to some Ghanaian students at the University of Ghana, 20 per cent of the student population there are Nigerian, then one cannot be surprised when it is claimed that some private universities have more than 50 per cent Nigerian students.
In addition to Nigeria, other foreign students throng in from Togo, Cameroun, La Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. In some instances, students from the United States and the European Union apply for admissions here in Ghana. And many Ghanaians resident abroad in such far off places as Japan, Australia and Canada ensure that when it comes to time for their children’s junior and senior high school education, they bring them to Ghana to live with relatives and go to school. As the old adage goes, “Pity the man or woman in Ghana who has no classmates”.
In the case of the Dominion University College (DUC), it is the realisation of the increasingly internationalized structure of the tertiary system in Ghana, that the new university is making a conscious policy decision to recruit a good number of its Governing Council members, as well as faculty from overseas.
Currently, on its Governing Council are such distinguished individuals as a former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Dr. Jendayi Frazer; a former Zambian Vice President, Dr. Nevers Mumba; a former Minister of Education of Nigeria, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili; and a former United States Assistant Trade Representative for Africa, Mrs. Rosa Whittaker Duncan-Williams. In addition, several of the faculty members are foreign nationals who will teach on a distance basis and Ghanaians who have resided for long periods overseas.
After a cursory assessment of the situation, one can only suggest that authorities of our public and private higher institutions of learning should re-strategise their tuition plans to provide quality education that aims at providing employable skills to both local and foreign students and a way of earning foreign exchange for the country.
Foreign students
Admittedly, Ghana is said to be earning fairly huge foreign exchange on the educational sector as an indirect non-traditional export. Although, there are no available documented figures in terms of foreign cash-flows on the sector, it is believed that the sector has raked in hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy over the last few years.
Most Ghanaian universities, for instance, charge a premium for foreign students, and some even charge Ghanaians with lower-than-preferred examination results a ‘foreign student fees”. Most foreign students are also known to be the ones who occupy the most expensive public or private hostels on or near various university campuses.
Their lifestyles and expenditure patterns also tend to be often higher than their Ghanaian counterparts. It is time, therefore, that the Government Statistician, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), capture the facts and data on Ghana’s educational exports and acquaint everyone with the hard facts.
Advantages
In fact, education as an export commodity has many advantages. The most obvious one is that foreign or guest students stimulate the economy. For example, the location of the University of Ghana at Legon has created demand for hostels in and around the university. This has also created a lot of job opportunities for the country’s real estate industry. Again, auxiliary services such as the provision of consumable products and food items have created a lot of jobs for many Ghanaians in that catchment area.
After the graduation of these foreign students, the system should make it flexible for them to stay on in Ghana, leading to “brain gain”. In other words, they should be made to work in the country, if possible.
This gain can be evident in entrepreneurship by the foreign graduate in order to create job avenues for our people, as well as augment those created by the locals. In fact, the retention of such foreign graduates makes lots of economic sense in that the host-country reaps the fruits of other countries’ toil.
This is how the United States, Australia, the UK and other countries have prospered, by relying on a foreign immigrant population that is highly educated and trained.
Furthermore, the long-term benefit of making education an export commodity is that the country takes advantage to influence the consumption patters of the next generation.
Thus, the host nation creates a future market for her goods and services as well as political ideas. It is said that President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe taught at Fijai Secondary School, Sekondi; Gambia’s first President, Sir Dawda Jawara, studied at Achimota School; the first President of Namibia, Dr. Samjoma also had some tutorials at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ); and former Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Yakubu Gowon, General Olusegun Obasanjo and some current and past senior Nigeria Army Officers had training at the Ghana Armed Forces Staff College at Teshie.
There is no doubt in mind that their studies and academic work in Ghana would have influence their policy and other decisions regarding Ghana once they found themselves in positions of importance and leadership.
Investing in education may be easier than in products. It is obvious that Ghana does not have the resources to build factories for our teeming unemployed youth, but we certainly have the brains that drive education. More so, certain services are hard to replicate, which make educational investment attractive in the long run.
Players in the educational sector can build schools and higher institutions of learning that can meet global educational needs. We need to focus on the global market in terms of education, since the local market is nearly almost saturated.
Government and private sector need to deliberately promote education as a leading non-export commodity the same way we promote cocoa and timber. Australia is one of the few countries that exports education in the world.
Solutions
Ghana’s solution to its economic problems may lie in sectors we take for granted like education and we can learn from the Australian experience. It is important that we build quality schools and improve curricula that aim at attracting students from all over the world. In this regard, it is my opinion that players in the educational sector should be encouraged to develop innovative ways of exporting education and attracting foreign exchange for the country.
Interestingly, one major player and a new entrant into the educational scene and which is currently playing its card well is the Dominion University College (DUC).
Even as it prepares earnestly to admit its pioneer students in September this year, the university has been described by many as an outstanding institution due to the programmes to be offered and its infrastructure.
DUC is a Christian university based on the tenets of Biblical principles and beliefs. The university has recruited top-notch professors and experienced lecturers to handle small-size classes.
The university has ultra-modern lecture halls suitable for teaching and learning. In line with its vision and mission, DUC also encourages productive exploration of knowledge, creativity, as well as the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge to impact positively on students.
The university is open to people of all race and creed, and seeks to establish itself as one of Ghana’s finest private Christian universities. As already indicated, it has begun by attracting some powerful and influential non-Ghanaian educators onto its Governing Council and faculty.
In conclusion, let us priorities education and make it one of the leading non-traditional export commodities of the country. Again, let us not forget the adage “if you think education is expensive try ignorance.”
Source: www.ghana.gov.gh/index.php/news/features/14831-education-as-ghanas-non-traditional-export