Review university affiliation process – Ashesi President

Patrick Awuah - Founder of Ashesi University
Patrick Awuah – Founder of Ashesi University

Dr Patrick Awuah, President of Ashesi University College, has appealed to National Accreditation Board (NAB) to review the current affiliation process which he said is skewed against private universities.

He said it is unfair for private universities to undergo ten years of affiliation with a public university before they can award their own degrees while newly established public universities are exempted from such a process.

Dr Awuah was speaking at the 2013 Founder’s Week Celebrations of Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) in Accra.

The Founder’s Week Celebration which is on theme: “Education for national development,” was attended by people from the academia as well as the public.

Dr Awuah who spoke on the topic: “Widening access to Tertiary Education: The Mix of public and Private Participation” stated that in 2002 the number of years that a private university would have to affiliate with a public university was four years however in 2010 the law was changed to extend the period to 10 years.

He noted that if the NAB has a problem with the performance of students from a particular private university and had to be supervised by the external lecturers those schools have to be isolated and dealt with.

He said the NAB cannot lump all private universities together and use one measure to judge them.

Dr Awuah also appealled for public support to the private universities since the parents of students who attend the facilities contribute towards the Ghana Education Trust Fund.

He called for practical educational system that allows the students to be creative and apply the things they have learnt.

Dr Awuah said because Africa is being consumed by corruption there is the need to train the next generation of leaders in good moral principles and selflessness.

Professor Ernest Aryeetey, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana who spoke on the topic: “Addressing the funding challenges in Ghana’s Tertiary Education,” called on the public university managers to device creative means to raise funds to undertake research and other programmes.

He said increasing reliance on the country’s development partners and donors for a long time could create problems for public universities in terms of their development and operations.

He appealed to government to increase the amount money that goes into investments to enable public universities undertake development projects on campus to absorb the growing student population.

Source: GNA

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