UK and EU accreditation for training in Ghana and Kenya

Why we cover Ghana and Kenya together

We wrote this guide for colleges and academies in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi, and in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.

Private training is growing in both countries, and both regulators have gone after dubious foreign certificates in the last two years. The UK and Malta options do not change between Accra and Nairobi. The local sign-off does, and in both places you get it before the first learner enrols.

Ghana: what the law says

In Ghana, foreign tertiary programmes fall under GTEC through the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020, known as Act 1023. Section 30 is direct about it:

• A foreign tertiary institution must submit proof of accreditation from its own country and be registered and accredited by the GTEC Board.
• A local online provider, or a local agent recruiting for a foreign institution, "shall not commence operations unless the foreign tertiary education institution is duly registered and granted accreditation by the Board."
• Offering a tertiary programme through a foreign institution that is not accredited is an offence, punishable by a fine, a prison term, or both.

GTEC has used these powers. In February 2025 it ordered a Ghanaian college to end a partnership with an unaccredited foreign university and said the certificates "cannot be used in Ghana". Nine months later, in November 2025, it was a Costa Rican university's turn: a local consultancy had been signing up students for it, and GTEC said those certificates would not count either.

Technical and vocational courses answer to CTVET instead. It runs Ghana's eight-level TVET framework and can accredit programmes, institutions and centres. We looked for a published CTVET process for recognising a foreign awarding body and did not find one. Ring them before you build a plan on it.

Kenya: what the law says

Kenya is more procedural. KNQA's own notice says any institution that wants to award a foreign qualification in Kenya must, by law, apply to it. It then issues a Certificate of Qualifications Equivalence per qualification, and two of its conditions narrow your choice:

• whoever examines the qualification has to be registered back home;
• the qualification itself has to sit on its home country's framework.

That favours qualifications with a public register entry at home: a UK qualification on Ofqual's Register, a programme on the SCQF database, or an award on the Malta Qualifications Framework. For degrees, the Commission for University Education recognises foreign qualifications only from accredited and recognised universities or institutions.

Sources: Act 1023, GTEC enforcement reports, CTVET, KNQA and CUE, linked below. Checked 28 October 2026.

The three routes, seen from Ghana and Kenya

The routes in brief

Approved centre. An Ofqual-recognised awarding organisation approves your school, and you teach and assess its qualification. Ofqual has said qualifications offered overseas are protected by its regulation so long as they are also taken by learners in England. Ask for the international fee list.

Your own programme on a UK framework. Scotland (SCQF credit rating) and Wales (CQFW endorsement) can give your own programme a level and credit, provided the body takes it on. England and Northern Ireland need an awarding organisation to make it a regulated qualification, and Ofqual says it cannot regulate one that nobody takes in England or Northern Ireland. Outcomes, assessment and quality assurance all have to be written down, and fees are whatever the body charges.

Malta accreditation. We put your programme to MFHEA under our partner institute's licence. With approval, your learners study online from home, come to Malta for one or two classroom blocks, and get an award from the institute that names your school as delivery partner. That licence goes up to Level 4 for now; anything higher waits on MFHEA approving the institute for higher education.

What we would suggest

• Get your GTEC or CTVET approval in Ghana, or your KNQA certificate in Kenya, and only then open enrolment.
• Pick a qualification you can point to on a public register in its home country. Both regulators will look.
• Write the full programme before approaching anyone. A regulator or rating body will want outcomes, hours, assessment and quality assurance, not only exam papers.

Apollo Accreditation is a consultancy. It is not a regulator or an awarding organisation and does not award qualifications. Rules in Ghana and Kenya change, so confirm the current position with the regulator named before you act on it.