Development
Why China is Becoming a Top Choice for Ghanaian Ph.D. Students By Natasha Robinson & David Mills
“CHINA WASN’T MY FIRST OPTION for a PhD. Honestly, in Ghana the perception about China or the Chinese system, Chinese products, Chinese whatever, it is not very positive.” Dr. Courage Simon Kofi Dogbe is one of the thousands of Ghanaians who recently got their PhDs from universities in China. In 2018 alone 800 Ghanaians were studying for PhDs in China – up from 200 in 2017. This is compared to 2,200 Ghanaians registered for a PhD in Ghana in that year. The wide availability of Chinese government scholarships has fueled this trend, as has the relatively straightforward university application process. This is especially when contrasted to the high costs of applying to universities in the US and Europe, frequent rejections, and less generous offers, for those who want to study abroad. As the largest single provider of university scholarships to students from sub-Saharan Africa, China accounts for 40% of all scholarships that are given to students from the region. Beyond the sheer numbers, the experiences of African researchers who get their PhDs in China may herald a profound culture change for universities on the continent.
China is influencing academia in Africa through those who return China is shaping Ghana’s higher education sector in an interesting way. Steeped in academic tradition, the oldest Ghanaian universities have a reputation for bureaucratic examination procedures and minimal supervisory support. PhD candidates have to juggle their teaching and research, at times taking the best part of a decade to complete their PhDs. There is also a constant concern about Ghanaian academics publishing in hard-to-find and uncited academic journals. This impacts Ghana’s global 30
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university rankings, and also prevents Ghanaian academics from contributing to a global science system through knowledge production, knowledge dissemination, and collegial collaborations. In contrast, China has turbocharged its research output, overtaking the US in 2018 to become the world’s largest producer of scientific research articles. Recent African PhD graduates from China describe being trained in demanding but dynamic research environments, with a razor sharp focus on publishing in ‘top’ international journals. The experiences of these students—many of whom are on research leave from their posts in Ghanaian universities—bring their experiences back. In doing so, they are changing the face of Ghanaian universities and how research is conducted, as they implement what they learned from their PhD training in China.
Not the first choice, but in retrospect, was the best Dr. Dogbe’s experience is not a unique one. This is a common response in interviews with Chinese-educated African academics. For many, the decision to study in China is part serendipity and part last resort. In Dr. Dogbe’s case it was only after several failed applications to UK and other European universities, and a chance encounter with a friend who shared scholarship opportunities, that he even considered China. “Basically, the motivation for going to China was the scholarship package.” His colleague, Dr Claudia Nyarko Mensah, shares an almost similar story. “Initially I really did not want to go far from home. I wanted to do my PhD in South Africa but looking at the tuition fees, they were quite high.” She had been lecturing in a Ghanaian private university, where salaries often went unpaid, and needed a way out. A family friend preparing his DAWN
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