1,200 Ghanaian students study in China

THERE are about 1,200 Ghanaian students pursuing higher academic laurels in various universities across the People’s Republic of China.

The Minister-Counsellor/Head of Chancery of the Ghana Embassy in China, Mrs Alberta D. Quartey, who briefed the Daily Graphic in Beijing, explained that two-thirds of these students were studying medicine.

While some of the students were being sponsored by the Chinese and the Ghanaian governments, others were being sponsored by their guardians to study in China.

According to Mrs Quartey, every year, the Chinese government sponsors over eighty Ghanaian students to study in China.

She explained further that the relationship between the Ghanaian students and the Ghana Mission in China was very cordial, adding that for the past 25 years a China branch of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS-China) had been formed to organise Ghanaian students.

She added that student leaders have been appointed at the various Chinese Provinces while a website had also been created to coordinate activities of the students.

Mrs Quartey, who is also in-charge of education at the embassy, however, cautioned prospective students who want to pursue higher academic goals in China to be wary of middlemen/agents who sometimes deliberately deceive students in order to make huge profits without seeing to it that they were appropriately admitted into their preferred schools.

She disclosed that sometimes some students get stranded as a result of such misinformation and narrated a case in which some students were deceived to gain admission into a Chinese university where the medium of instruction was only in Chinese instead of their preferred choice of English.

The Head of the Consular Section of the Embassy, Mr Seth Odame said the Ghana Mission was also responsible for North Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia.

According to him, it was estimated that there were 3,000 Ghanaians in China, however only 1,500 have registered with the Embassy.

Mr Odame disclosed that there were 20 Ghanaian prisoners in various prisons across China, explaining that most of them were jailed as a result of their involvement in narcotic drugs.

He said the consular section of the Embassy visited Ghanaian prisoners from time to time while students who ran into problems with the host authorities were also assisted.

Touching on biometric passports, Mr Odame stated that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had set the end of 2015 as the deadline for all travelers to possess biometric passports.

He, therefore, advised Ghanaian travelers, both home and abroad, to take necessary measures to get the biometric passports before the deadline.

Mr Odame added that in order to meet the ICAO deadline, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration was working feverishly to enable the Ghana Missions abroad issue biometric passports to Ghanaian in the Diaspora.