Over 4,000 Senior High School (SHS) students in the five regions of the north have benefited from the “Free Senior High School” edition of the Ghana Higher Education Fair.
The exhibition exercise organized by I-TEXON Ghana offered both public and private universities the opportunity to showcase their programs and facilities, interact with prospective students and offer information on career paths.
Students received relevant information from various university coordinators on tertiary education relating to courses, fees, programs suitability and career prospects.
Speaking to Citi News, Programmes Coordinator for I-TEXON Ghana, Kwaku Kwarteng Yeboah said the fair was aimed at equipping prospective graduates from government’s free senior high education programme with appropriate information and guidance to make better choices for their dream career.
“It has been largely a successful event for us and this year, we have had to come to places we haven’t been before like Nalerigu and Damongo. Reason being that these are new regions and we have to get closer to Senior High Schools in those regions to ensure they benefit from this year’s fair.”
“Fortunately, this year’s fair is a special one because it is the free SHS edition and so we are expecting a lot of these students to enter the tertiary institutions and so they would need to know what is happening and what they should be expecting. The tertiary institutions are brought close to them to give them the information they need to aid them make appropriate choices,” he said.
Mr. Kwarteng, further explained that I-TEXON Ghana has over the years been rolling out the international fair with the aim of availing Ghanaian tertiary institutions the opportunity to meet their prospective international students to boost their revenue generation and make Ghana the preferred destination for higher education for students in the sub-region.
The 13th edition of the fair was held for two days each in all regional capitals of the Northern, Upper East, Upper West, North East and Savannah Regions in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and the Free SHS Secretariat.
Mr. Kwarteng noted that in 2016, an online portal was proposed by institutions participating in the fair to make international students’ recruitment more affordable and streamlined. This resulted in the development of a Study in Ghana Portal (studyinghana.com.gh) with the aim of making Ghana the place where Africa educates its youth.
Some of the institutions that participated in the fair include University of Education-Winneba, Ghana Technology University College, University of Cape Coast, Koforidua Technical University, Valley View University, Regentropfen College of Applied Sciences and DAAD.
The rest are University for Professional Studies (UPSA), Tamale Technical University, Sunyani Technical University and the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAG).
Some students told Citi News, they are well equipped and informed about which programs to opt for after the fair considering their future career.