Ghana becomes 14th largest sender of students globally to the U.S
Ghana is currently the 14th largest sender of prospective students in the World to study in the United States of America (USA), the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Virginia Palmer has disclosed.
Speaking at the Volta Region, the United States Ambassador also said Ghana is the second largest in Sub-Saharan Africa adding that the Embassy this year, had a record number of Ghanaian students studying in the United States.
Madam Palmer according to a Ghana News Agency blog (GNA) post sighted by Thisterm.com said the Embassy’s visa officers handled 10,000 visa appointments over the summer.
She said the Embassy was working on visa backlogs and urged applicants not to be discouraged but endeavour to apply in time.
The Ambassador also attended a Sports Investment Summit and Awards being held as part of activities marking the Fair. She indicated Ghana had many sportsmen and women, who had done wonderfully in the United States.
Madam Virginia Palmer said a professional sports liaison had been designated in the Embassy’s visa section to facilitate the kinds of exchanges since sports diplomacy was very important.
“I am here to see for myself what those opportunities are so that I can talk to my countrymen about that,” the Ambassador to the US said during her visit to the Volta Region to witness the Sixth Volta Trade and Investment Fair.
In a related story, the United States Embassy in Ghana has said a total of 6,468 Ghanaian students studied in the United States of America in the 2022/2023 academic year, thus a 31.6 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
The Embassy also said in a survey that Ghanaian students earned nearly US$9 million in scholarships to more than 700 higher educational institutions in all 50 states to study graduate programmes at American universities.
The US Embassy in a social media post indicated the 2021/2022 academic year (4,140) Ghanaians travelled to the US for study adding that 4,916 Ghanaians also travelled to the US to take university undergraduate programmes.
It indicated that Ghana is now the 14th largest contributor to the number of graduate foreign students in the United States of America (USA), rising from its previous 18th position.
“In terms of the overall number of foreign students in America, Ghana ranked 23rd in terms of countries with the largest number of students. A record-breaking 6,468 Ghanaians studied in the United States in 2022/2023 a massive 31.6% increase” the Embassy stated.
The United States remains the top destination for international students with over one million (1,057,188) international students in the academic year 2022-2023, which is a 12 per cent increase over the previous year.
The majority of international students in the United States study in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields; math and computer science continued to grow as the leading field of study for international students in 2022/23.
This year, the U.S. Embassy in Ghana hosted the two largest EducationUSA college fairs ever held in Ghana in Accra and Kumasi, which attracted more than 13,000 students, parents, and academic professionals.
The U.S. Embassy guides qualified individuals to be successful applicants to U.S. colleges and universities through EducationUSA, the U.S. Department of State’s network of education advisers.
Ghana currently has two EducationUSA Advising Centers at the U.S. Embassy in Accra and at ACE Consult in Asokwa, Kumasi. EducationUSA Advisors work with students in person and virtually to enhance their understanding of the college or university application process to be successful applicants.
Over the last year, EducationUSA advisers from the Accra and Kumasi-based centres helped thousands of Ghanaian students apply for admissions to hundreds of accredited U.S. institutions of higher learning.