Six Ghanaian postgraduate students who completed their studies at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom have been unable to receive their academic certificates due to unpaid tuition fees reportedly owed by the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat (GSS).
The students, who completed their master’s programmes in September under a government scholarship scheme, said they have been denied graduation because their outstanding fees remain unsettled.
They claimed the scholarship programme was expected to cover tuition and living expenses, with each student’s cost estimated at about £29,000.
One of the affected students, Noah Krah, who pursued a master’s degree in Construction Management, said repeated attempts to get the GSS to resolve the issue had not yielded results.
He said he had submitted petitions, written letters and held several engagements with officials, but the matter remained unresolved.
“I have been in contact with them. I have written petitions, I have written letters, I have had meetings both physically and virtually but still, to no avail. This situation is still pending, my tuition fees remain unpaid,” he said.
Mr Krah said the delay had affected his plans to return to Ghana and apply his skills towards national development.
Another student, Emmanuel Boakye, who completed a master’s programme in Data Science, said the situation had caused significant emotional and financial pressure.
He said the students completed their academic requirements with the expectation that the government would fulfil its financial obligations but had instead been left struggling to cope.
“It is emotionally exhausting to realise that months of sacrifice and academic effort may amount to nothing through something entirely out of my control,” he said.
The affected students have since appealed for urgent intervention and staged a peaceful protest at the Ghana High Commission in London to draw attention to their plight.
Meanwhile, Loughborough University has confirmed that the students remain unable to graduate because of outstanding tuition payments.
A spokesperson for the university said it had made several attempts to engage the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat to resolve the matter but those efforts had not been successful.
The university explained that its regulations prevent students with unpaid fees from being formally conferred with their degrees, although it continues to provide support and guidance to the affected students.
“The university has made repeated efforts to resolve this matter directly with GSS, but to date these have not been successful,” the spokesperson said.
The Ghana Scholarship Secretariat did not respond to requests for comments on the issue.
The students are now awaiting a resolution that would allow them to receive their certificates and officially complete their academic journey.
