Ghanaian students at UK universities face deportation amid funding crisis

Students from Ghana are under the threat of deportation from their UK universities, because the Ghanaian government has failed to keep up its scholarship and tuition fee payments.

More than 100 PhD students have been affected by the government failure, with the Ghanaian administration owing an estimated £32 million to around 110 UK higher education institutions.

Payments on scholarships have been paused since January as a result of the election of the Mahama administration, with many stating that they have not received payments since 2024.

Prince Komla Bansah, the president of the group of doctoral students, has said that some students have already been deported by the Home Office for failure to pay their fees

The affected students are enrolled at higher education institutions across the United Kingdom, including at Warwick. Students at the Universities of Nottingham, Bradford, Lincoln, Liverpool, and University College London have also been impacted.

With many unable to sustain part-time work due to the intensity of their courses, most students have a heavily reliance on loans from the Ghanaian government.

Prince Komla Bansah, the president of the group of doctoral students, has said that some students have already been deported by the Home Office for failure to pay their fees, while others have been evicted from their accommodation.

Bansah also stated that “some have had to depend on food banks because they have no money to feed themselves.”

In an open letter to the Minister for Africa, [the President of the NUS] urged the Ghanaian government to settle their scholarship debts

The President of the National Union of Students, Amira Campbell, first publicly recognised this issue in January 2025. In an open letter to the Minister for Africa, Campbell urged the Ghanaian government to settle their scholarship debts.

Many of the challenges discussed in this letter, including refusals of graduations, were ongoing, but have now become more severe.

Alex Kwaku Asafo-Agyei, the Registrar for the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat, came to the UK earlier this year to draw up instalment plans with universities, seeking to pay off much of the scholarship debt. However, Asafo-Agyei declined to answer The Guardian as to how much of the debt has actually been paid off.

This issue has not just impacted higher education students in the UK: at the University of Memphis, 181 Ghanaian students complained earlier this year about similar missing payments from the secretariat.