Government has made a strong case for its intention to draw up a single statute for all tertiary institutions in the country.
According to the Education Minister, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the move is in line with best practices in the world.
“We have already said that in Ghana we have one act for 46 colleges of education which is all tertiary. We have one act for 10 technical universities which are tertiary but I look at Norway they have one Act for all their university. I look at South Africa and they have one Act for all their universities, I look at Denmark and they had one Act for all their universities. I look at Kenya and they have one Act for all their university and that Act in Kenya includes both public and private Universities,” he added.
Speaking at a special forum on tertiary education, Matthew Opoku Prempeh further debunked claims that the move is part of government’s efforts to take control of the management of public universities.
“The president has assured all Vice-Chancellors that he was the Attorney General that took criminal libel law off the hook and he is not going to be the President that wants to come to the university and dictate. Management governs and accountability has got nothing to do with academic freedom,” he said.
The new academic staff of tertiary institutions will be required to hold a postgraduate certificate of teaching from an accredited institution.
This is according to the new tertiary policy by the government of Ghana.
Making this known, a member of the policy drafting committee, Prof. Salifu Mohammed said that the reforms will include outsourcing of halls of residence of the public universities as well as the splitting of the University of Development Studies into three separate universities.
“We are getting experienced staff from the old assemblies and old regions. And they need to be placed and it is the basis of the creation of the new region as well as the additional MMDAs. We have also created 44 new municipalities. As a result of this, we have got financial clearance to include 2,290 staffs,” he said.