Ghana Scholarships Secretariat: Now the Ghana Scholarships Authority — Eligibility and How to Apply

If you are looking for the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat, you are looking for a body that now presents itself under a different name and a new statute. As at 26 August 2026, the government scholarship administrator at scholarships.gov.gh identifies itself throughout as the Ghana Scholarships Authority, established by the Ghana Scholarships Authority Act, 2025 (Act 1149). The word “Secretariat” no longer appears anywhere in the visible content of that site.

That matters more than a name change usually would, because the Secretariat is routinely confused with a second Ghanaian body that also awards scholarships — GETFund, the Ghana Education Trust Fund — and with a third that awards nothing of the kind, the Ghana National Research Fund. This page establishes what the Authority actually is, what it will and will not fund, how its application route works, and exactly where the boundary with GETFund falls.

What changed: from Secretariat to Authority

The Authority’s own “About Us” page dates the institution’s work to 1960 and describes an unbroken purpose — opening education pathways for Ghanaians whose potential would otherwise be limited by financial barriers. So this reads as a re-establishment of a long-running function on a new statutory footing, not the creation of a new organisation from nothing.

The statute is named on the site as the Ghana Scholarships Authority Act, 2025 (Act 1149). Its long title is quoted there as:

“An Act to establish the Ghana Scholarships Authority to regulate the administration and award of Government scholarships in a transparent and equitable manner and for related matters.”

Two words in that long title carry real weight for anyone trying to work out who does what. The Act’s stated object is to regulate the administration and award of Government scholarships. That is a coordinating and standard-setting mandate across the government scholarship estate, not merely a licence to run one scheme. It is consistent with what the Authority’s own site shows: a legal-mandate section that places the Authority alongside GETFund, the Ghana Cocoa Board, the GNPC Foundation, the Students Loan Trust Fund, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance as parts of one public scholarship network.

What we could not verify, and are therefore not asserting

Be careful with the detail here, because this is exactly where secondary coverage invents things:

• We read Act 1149’s long title as quoted on the Authority’s own site. We did not read the Act’s operative text from a legislative source. Nothing below is presented as a section-level reading of the Act.
• We could not verify the assent or commencement date of Act 1149, and do not state one.
• We could not verify whether Act 1149 formally dissolved the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat, renamed it, or re-established its functions in a new body. The site’s “since 1960” framing implies continuity; the Act itself is the authority on the legal mechanism, and we have not read it.
• The Authority publishes no award amounts — no tuition ceiling, no stipend figure, no accommodation cap — anywhere in its public programme, FAQ or About material. Any specific cedi figure you find on an aggregator site is not sourced from the Authority. We state none.

The metadata still says “Secretariat” — and that is a useful signal

There is a concrete, checkable artefact of this transition that is worth recording, because it is the kind of thing that decides whether an automated system resolves the right entity.

While every piece of visible text on scholarships.gov.gh reads “Ghana Scholarships Authority”, the pages’ machine-readable metadata has not been updated. On the FAQ page as served on 26 August 2026, the HTML carries:

• a meta name="author" value of “Ghana Scholarship Secretariat”; and
• a schema.org GovernmentOrganization JSON-LD block whose name property is likewise “Ghana Scholarship Secretariat”, pointed at https://scholarships.gov.gh.

Three practical consequences follow. First, the old name is still the one a structured-data consumer — a search engine’s entity graph, a knowledge panel, a scholarship aggregator’s crawler — will read off the page, which helps explain why “Ghana Scholarships Secretariat” remains the dominant search phrasing well after the rebrand. Second, if you are maintaining a funder registry, an institutional funding database or a research funder record, you should expect to encounter both strings and should treat them as the same entity, with the Authority name as current. Third, it is independent evidence that the transition is live and recent rather than long settled.

Scholarships Authority vs GETFund: the distinction that actually matters

These are two separate statutory bodies with different enabling laws, different core mandates and different application routes. They are not the same organisation, and one has not absorbed the other. On the evidence available, they partner: the Authority’s own mission statement describes using “government, GETFund, and donor support” to fund students, and its legal-mandate section lists GETFund as one of the institutions in the network it coordinates.

	Ghana Scholarships Authority	GETFund
Enabling law	Ghana Scholarships Authority Act, 2025 (Act 1149)	GETFund Act, 2000 (Act 581)
Core mandate	Regulate the administration and award of Government scholarships, transparently and equitably	Supplement government provision of educational infrastructure and facilities in the public sector, basic to tertiary
Scholarships are…	the core function	one programme alongside an infrastructure mandate
Study levels	Tertiary and professional, undergraduate and postgraduate, local and foreign	Postgraduate foreign scholarships (Masters), plus undergraduate Medicine in Eastern Europe and Asia only
Apply before admission?	Depends on the route; some foreign calls include admission in the process	No — an unconditional or financial-condition admission letter is required up front
Local vs district structure	District Scholarship Review Committees vet local applications	No district layer
Portal	apply.scholarships.gov.gh	scholarships.getfund.gov.gh

The single rule that connects them, and the one applicants most often trip over: you may apply to more than one Ghanaian government scheme, but you cannot hold more than one government-funded scholarship at the same time. The Authority states this in its own FAQ (“You may apply for multiple types, but you cannot benefit from more than one government-funded scholarship at the same time”), and GETFund states the matching rule from its side — applicants may apply to other Ghana government agencies but cannot hold two or more scholarships from Ghana Government Agencies simultaneously. Two bodies, one concurrency rule, stated independently by each.

A third body is worth ruling out explicitly, because the acronyms invite it. The Ghana National Research Fund (GNRF) awards competitive research grants to researchers under a separate 2020 statute. It does not award student scholarships and is not an alternative route if a scholarship application fails.

Who is eligible

The Authority’s published eligibility bar is deliberately general, because the operative criteria sit in each individual call rather than in a single standing rule. What it does publish:

• Ghanaian citizenship, plus academic merit and/or financial need, “subject to the specific criteria of the scholarship programme”.
• Public and private institutions both qualify, provided the institution is accredited. This is a meaningful difference from schemes that fund public universities only. Accreditation in Ghana is the remit of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), so an institution’s GTEC status is the thing to confirm before applying.
• New entrants and continuing students may both apply for local tertiary support.
• No strict age limit is published. The Authority states that most scholarships “prioritise recent graduates and young professionals” — a prioritisation, not a cut-off.
• For foreign routes, you may not choose any university you like: “you must apply to the specific institutions listed in the scholarship offer or agreement”.

Read that last point carefully if you are comparing this against an open international scheme such as Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters, where the applicant selects the consortium. Ghana’s foreign awards are frequently tied to bilateral agreements with partner countries, which fixes both the destination and the discipline.

The nine programme routes

The Authority publishes nine programme areas. Identifying which one your situation falls under is the first real decision, because the documents, the review body and the timing all differ by route.

1. Local Tertiary Scholarships — students at accredited Ghanaian institutions; tuition and approved academic costs; district-based review; open to continuing students.
2. Foreign Tertiary Scholarships — undergraduate and postgraduate awards, tied to partner-country opportunities and priority disciplines.
3. National Merit Scholarships — competitive, merit-led, weighing academic record and leadership potential.
4. District Scholarship Support — the decentralised route: local verification and interviews closer to the applicant’s community.
5. Special Needs Support — for students with disabilities and special learning needs, with documented support needs.
6. Professional & Continuing Education — certifications, short courses and advanced study tied to national priorities and public-sector capacity.
7. Zongo Scholarship Support — targeted access for qualified applicants from Zongo communities.
8. ECOWAS Scholarship Pathways — regional study opportunities within the ECOWAS space.
9. Home Abroad Language Programme — language preparation for applicants whose destination requires foreign-language competence.

How to apply

Submission is entirely through the official portal. The Authority’s published sequence is:

1. Go to apply.scholarships.gov.gh and create an account. The portal is stated to be mobile-friendly and usable from a smartphone.
2. Complete the application form.
3. Upload the required documents. The typical set is: admission letter, academic transcript, Ghana Card, passport photograph, and proof of need.
4. Submit for district-level review.

Step 4 is the part that distinguishes this scheme from most national scholarship programmes, and it is covered below.

Before you submit, note the Authority’s own warning about editing: “Editing after submission may be limited once review begins.” If a mistake cannot be corrected in the portal, the published route is to contact support with your full name, application reference, and the specific correction needed. Check personal details, uploaded documents and programme information before final submission rather than after — the same discipline GETFund enforces more bluntly, since GETFund permits no edits after submission at all.

District Scholarship Review Committees

Local Tertiary Scholarship applications are managed and vetted at the local level by District Scholarship Review Committees, not centrally in Accra. The Authority reports 260+ district access points across Ghana’s 16 regions for local interviews.

Practical consequences applicants underestimate:

• You may be invited to a district-level review, verification or interview. Bring original documents — the district stage exists partly to check uploads against originals.
• Be ready to confirm residence, academic background and financial need in person.
• District and residency requirements apply. Asked whether an applicant may apply through a district where they do not live, the Authority’s answer is that applicants should follow the district or residency requirements in the official guidance, and that residence “may be verified during review”. Treat district-shopping as a risk to the application, not a tactic.

Selection, payment, renewal and withdrawal

The Authority is explicit that submitting an application does not guarantee an award. Published selection inputs are: academic performance, financial need, programme requirements, district verification, national priorities, the strength of supporting documents, verification outcomes, and available funding.

Shortlisted applicants may be contacted by SMS, email, portal notification, phone call or official district communication, depending on the route. Notification of a successful application likewise arrives by SMS, email or portal notification.

Payment timing is not fixed and no schedule is published. The Authority states payment depends on approval, verification, institutional processes and the scholarship cycle, and directs beneficiaries to monitor official communication and portal updates. Do not plan around a published payment date; there isn’t one.

An award is a continuing obligation, not a one-off event:

• Renewal: some awards require renewal, academic progress checks or updated records, per the instructions attached to the award.
• Monitoring: usage is monitored through regular reporting, academic records, and field visits by the Authority and local assemblies.
• Withdrawal: a scholarship may be withdrawn for poor academic performance, misconduct, or providing false information during application. Failing a semester may cost the award unless the applicant provides a valid reason and meets the academic recovery requirements of both the institution and the Authority.
• Records to keep: award letters, admission documents, fee statements, transcripts, progress reports, and all correspondence from the Authority or institution.

Deadlines: what is actually published, and what is not

Deadlines for this scheme are cycle-specific and change every year. Everything in this section is a snapshot as at 26 August 2026 and must be re-checked against the portal or the current official notice before you rely on it.

The only standing timing guidance the Authority publishes is for the local route: Local Tertiary Scholarship applications “usually open between August and December each academic year”, with the instruction to check the portal or the local district office for announcements. No standing window is published for the foreign, merit or specialist routes — those open against individual calls.

The most recent notices visible on the Authority’s homepage on 26 August 2026 were, by their published dates:

• 11 June 2026 — Scholarship opportunity in the Republic of Serbia.
• 3 June 2026 — Presidential West African Scholarship Initiative (PWASI) 2026.
• 10 April 2026 — Local Tertiary Scholarship applications for the 2026/2027 academic year.

These are listed as evidence of the notice cadence and the range of routes, not as open calls: we did not open the individual notices and cannot confirm whether any of them is still accepting applications. Treat the notice list on scholarships.gov.gh as the only authoritative deadline source.

Avoiding the fraud layer around this scheme

Search results for Ghanaian government scholarships are heavily populated by aggregator and outright scam sites, and the Authority publishes counter-guidance specifically because of it. Its own published position:

• Use only official application channels and the instructions published by the Authority. Be cautious of anyone requesting unofficial payments, personal banking details, or payment through private contacts.
• Never share your portal login, including with someone helping you apply. If someone assists, review everything yourself before submission.
• A message is genuine only if it arrives through official channels or can be verified against the Authority’s website, application portal or official contact lines.
• The Authority explicitly warns against claims of guaranteed scholarship placement. Given that it states plainly that submission does not guarantee an award, any third party promising one is misrepresenting the scheme.

The verification anchors published by the Authority as at 26 August 2026 — useful precisely because they let you check a suspicious message against something fixed:

• Website scholarships.gov.gh; portal apply.scholarships.gov.gh.
• Email [email protected]; fraud and misconduct reports [email protected].
• Telephone 0302 907 051 and 0302 907 058.
• Office: GES Council Building, behind Accra High School, North Ridge, Accra. P.O. Box M 75, Accra.
• Office hours Monday to Friday, 08:00–17:00; closed weekends.

The existence of a dedicated report@ address is itself worth noting: the Authority operates a reporting channel distinct from general enquiries, which is where a suspected fraudulent solicitation should go.

What this means for institutions and research administrators

If you administer scholarships, sponsored students or international partnerships from the institutional side, four things follow from the above:

• Update the entity name in your systems, and keep the alias. “Ghana Scholarships Authority” is current; “Ghana Scholarships Secretariat” is what most applicants, most third-party sites and — as shown above — the Authority’s own structured data still say. A funder record that recognises only one of the two will fail to match half the traffic.
• Do not merge the Authority and GETFund into one funder record. Separate statutes, separate portals, separate mandates, and a concurrency rule that only makes sense if they are tracked separately.
• Expect a district-level verification step for locally-studying sponsored students, with originals checked against uploads. Institutional confirmation of enrolment and fees sits alongside that, not instead of it.
• Accreditation is the gating fact. Both public and private institutions qualify, but only accredited ones — so GTEC status is the first thing to confirm for any programme you expect to be fundable.

For comparable national scholarship and funding administrators elsewhere, see our guides to Nigeria’s TETFund, the National Universities Commission, Kenya’s Commission for University Education, the DOST-SEI scholarship in the Philippines, and India’s DST INSPIRE Fellowship. Institutional-level funding for African higher education is covered in our guide to the Mastercard Foundation. This page sits in CASRAI’s grants management cluster.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat still operating?

The government scholarship function is operating, but under a different name. As at 26 August 2026 the body at scholarships.gov.gh presents itself throughout as the Ghana Scholarships Authority, established by the Ghana Scholarships Authority Act, 2025 (Act 1149). Its About page dates the institution’s work to 1960, indicating continuity of function. We have not read Act 1149 itself and therefore do not state whether the Secretariat was dissolved, renamed or re-established.

Is the Ghana Scholarships Authority the same as GETFund?

No. They are separate bodies under separate statutes — Act 1149 (2025) for the Authority, Act 581 (2000) for GETFund — with different mandates and different application portals. They partner: the Authority’s mission refers to using GETFund support among its funding sources, and it lists GETFund in its institutional network. But you apply to them separately, and you cannot hold both awards at once.

Can I hold a Scholarships Authority award and a GETFund scholarship together?

No. The Authority states you may apply for multiple types but cannot benefit from more than one government-funded scholarship at the same time. GETFund states the same rule from its side. Applying to both is permitted; holding both is not.

How do I apply for a Ghana government scholarship?

Through the official portal at apply.scholarships.gov.gh: create an account, complete the form, upload your documents, and submit for district-level review. There is no paper route and no agent route published.

What documents do I need?

The typical set published by the Authority is an admission letter, academic transcript, Ghana Card, passport photograph, and proof of need. Individual calls may require more — check the specific notice. Bring originals to any district review.

When do applications open?

Local Tertiary Scholarship applications usually open between August and December each academic year. Foreign, merit and specialist routes open against individual calls with no standing window. Always confirm against the current notice on scholarships.gov.gh, not against any date quoted on a third-party site.

How much is the scholarship worth?

The Authority publishes no award amounts. Local tertiary support is described as covering tuition and approved academic costs, and may cover part or all of accommodation depending on the applicant’s situation and district. Foreign awards may be fully funded (tuition, accommodation, stipend) or partial, with details given in each individual offer; travel support likewise varies by offer. Any specific figure quoted elsewhere is not sourced from the Authority.

Can students at private universities apply?

Yes. The Authority states that scholarships are awarded to students at accredited public and private universities. Accreditation is the test, not ownership.

Is there an age limit?

No strict age limit is published. The Authority notes that most scholarships prioritise recent graduates and young professionals — a weighting in selection, not an eligibility cut-off.

Does applying guarantee an award?

No, and the Authority says so directly. Applications are assessed against eligibility, documents, programme criteria, merit, need, verification outcomes and available funding. Anyone guaranteeing you a placement is misrepresenting the scheme — report it to [email protected].

Can I lose the scholarship after it is awarded?

Yes — for poor academic performance, misconduct, or providing false information in the application. Usage is monitored through reporting, academic records and field visits by the Authority and local assemblies.

Is this the same as the Ghana National Research Fund?

No. The GNRF awards competitive research grants to researchers under a separate 2020 statute, not student scholarships. See our GNRF guide.

Primary sources

All statements attributed to the Authority on this page were read directly from its own website on 26 August 2026:

• Ghana Scholarships Authority, “About Us” — scholarships.gov.gh/about-us (origin and 1960 dating, mandate, mission, values, Act 1149 reference).
• Ghana Scholarships Authority, homepage — scholarships.gov.gh (Act 1149 long title, institutional network, programme pathways, notice list, regional and district counts).
• Ghana Scholarships Authority, “Frequently Asked Questions” — scholarships.gov.gh/faq (eligibility, documents, application steps, district review, foreign routes, selection, payment, monitoring, withdrawal, portal safety, contact details). Also the source of the meta name="author" and JSON-LD GovernmentOrganization values recorded above.
• Ghana Scholarships Authority, “Scholarship Programmes” — scholarships.gov.gh/programmes (the nine programme areas and their stated features).

GETFund statements are drawn from GETFund’s own site (getfund.gov.gh), verified 26 August 2026 and set out in full in our GETFund scholarship guide.

Not consulted: the text of the Ghana Scholarships Authority Act, 2025 (Act 1149) itself. Where the Act is the authority on a point — its commencement, the legal treatment of the former Secretariat, the Authority’s governance and powers — we have said so rather than inferred an answer.