Two Senior lecturers at the Earth Science Department of the University of Ghana (UG), Legon, have advised Ghanaian students to take advantage of French Universities to study in France.
According to them, studying in France offered students the opportunity to learn various academic and non-academic values at a lower cost as compared to other universities across the globe.
Additionally, they indicated that most of the French universities had all the state-of-the-art infrastructure to enhance practical learning.
The two speakers, Dr Joseph Offei Thompson and Dr Prince Ofori Amponsah advised in an interview during a study in France Education Fair organised by Campus France at the Accra International Conference Centre yesterday.
Sharing his experience as a Director of Philosophy (PhD) student in France, Dr Amponsah noted apart from academics, he learnt a lot of cultural values from the French even though he did not have a background in the French language.
He,therefore, urged Ghanaian students who aspired to study in Francenot to be discouraged by their inability to speak the French language as they wouldreceive assistance from both French and non-French nationals.
For his part, Dr Thompson noted that it would be beneficial for the government to institute a mandatory programme to ensure that Ghanaian students enrol in foreign universities as done in the United States of America (USA) to learn new cultural values such as truthfulness and time management.
Moreover, Ms Sarah Yeboah, an Administrative assistant at Campus France, said she was encouraged by the level of participation by the students during the fair.
According to her, Campus France had a platform where it centralised the application process and also assisted students in going through the visa application process.
Furthermore, she noted that there was no age limit regarding the application to universities in France, however, “some of the scholarship programmes have age limits.”
Although there were undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, Ms Yeboah said there were more options in French for the undergraduates, as well as funding for PhD programmes.
She highlighted academic qualifications, lack of motivation, students not hiding advice, language barriers and verbal abuse from some frustrated students who did not meet the required qualifications as some of the challenges faced by Campus France.
Ms Yeboah said “There are some students who think we have to do everything for them. So if we are not getting that motivation from you, we are not seeing that there is that edge to push to gain admission, there is little help we can give you because, as much as we want to encourage students to study in France, we also want to send quality students out there so that French institutions are also encouraged to open more opportunities to Ghanaians.”
At the fair, 12 educational institutions from France mounted various stands where they provided details of the courses offered to students who visited.
There were also various presentations by the institutions as well as the France Institute of Research Department, and the French agricultural research and international cooperation organisation.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
