The roundtable, networking, and cocktail event took place on Friday, March 15, 2024, at the British Council in Accra. The event witnessed over 100 UK-trained Ghanaians coming together to participate.

The Alumni UK event also aimed to bring together UK Alumni from various industries in Ghana to create avenues for connecting and knowledge sharing, while also spotlighting the ongoing research project.

Naomi Baffour-Gyau, a Research and Project Associate with Konfidants, explained that the study aims to support UK higher education Alumni to contribute more meaningfully to society.

“Konfidants is a research company, and we were consulted by the British Council on Alumni Post-study engagements. So far, the feedback we are getting is that UK education is making a good impact in Ghana. People are applying knowledge in various fields; people are applying critical thinking in business, and in education, people are engaging more with their students,” Naomi Baffour-Gyau said.

“The British Council makes interventions to help UK Higher Education Alumni make a lot more impact in society. The research will aid the British Council in knowing what kind of support is needed in each sector of society,” she added.

“The feedback has been amazing, the feedback has been great. People work in silos, so events like these bring a lot of people together. We are ambassadors of top-quality global education. I have heard people say a lot of good things… much more for the networking opportunities,” another UK Alumni official told Citi News.

One of the panel members who spoke to Citi News, in the aftermath of the panel discussion, also recounted his UK study experience in an interview with Citi News.

“I have had a great experience studying in the UK and coming back to Ghana to apply what I studied. The systems in both countries are different; it is sometimes frustrating the slow pace of trying to get something done, but the silver lining is that great people emerge out of challenges. With the many challenges in Ghana, it gives us the opportunity to solve problems and come out as great people.”

Background

Each year, Ghanaians embark on studying at higher education institutions in the United Kingdom, which has historically been a popular destination for Ghanaians. Given the importance of higher education and the work that the British Council does in this space, the Alumni UK portal represents a global network to enhance connectivity among members.

Consequently, the main aspect of the event centered on the Ghanaian UK Alumni Research project spearheaded by the British Council through the advisory firm, Konfidants Strategies Limited.

The aim of the project is to understand the factors and motivations that inform the post-study engagements of Ghanaians who have studied in UK Higher Education Institutions.

Through highlighting their contribution to national development and discussing the challenges they faced, it will help the British Council to come up with additional support mechanisms for UK Alumni. This information will be accumulated via a survey, which was distributed online prior to and during the event as well.

There was a panel discussion that spoke about this project with input from UK Alumni, led by the team from Confidential Strategies Limited. The project will see a comprehensive report published, and this will be emphasized at a research dissemination event.