Education Minister Calls An Emergency Meeting With VCs of UG, KNUST Over Unaccredited Programmes

The Minister of Education Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has summoned the Vice Chancellors (VCs) of the University of Ghana (UG) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to an emergency meeting over the Autor General’s report which uncovered that these public universities are running unaccredited programmes.

The meeting is planned to take place on Friday September 2, sources told TV3 on Thursday September 1.

According to the Auditor-General’s Report, 374 academic programmes at the University of Ghana are unaccredited. The 299 programmes at KNUST were also not accredited.

At the University of Ghana, out of the 374 courses not accredited, 14 were Diploma programmes, 80 were Undergraduate courses, 213 were Post-Graduate courses, and 67 were PhD courses.

At KNUST, out of the 360 programmes run by the University, only 61 were accredited, 190 were sent to National Accreditation Board (NAB) for accreditation and re-accreditation with 109 yet to be sent to NAB for accreditation.

Following this revelation, Africa Education Watch called for court actions to be instituted against educational institutions that run courses and programmes that have not been accredited by the National Accreditation Board (NAB) or Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC).

The Executive Director of Eduwatch Africa, Mr. Kofi Asare told 3FM Sunrise Morning Show that taking such legal actions against culprit institutions would serve as a deterrent.

He noted that prior to the establishment of the National Accreditation Board which is now called the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), the traditional universities like University of Cape Coast (UCC), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and the University of Ghana existed hence they were adamant in submitting their programs for accreditation.

“What I think should be done is that GTEC should begin to sue the institutions. I want to see a more vibrant GTEC going to court and suing the institutions” he stressed

According to him there is a legislation that enjoins academic institutions to submit the courses they intend to run for accreditation.

“We have a situation at hand that has been legislated but we are still having the sphere of some institutions not helping us to reform the system” Mr. Asare alleged.

Source: 3news