The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has voiced its concerns about the increasing trend of tertiary institutions, especially public universities, introducing new academic programmes that do not align with Ghana’s current needs.
According to GTEC, many of these programmes are often adopted without proper consideration for local relevance and are frequently copied from foreign institutions without incorporating Ghanaian context or content.
During the opening ceremony of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) higher education project conference, held in Accra last Thursday, Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, the Director-General of GTEC, expressed his frustrations regarding this issue.
The international conference, which attracted participants from academia and policy-making circles worldwide, focused on “Motivating Higher Education Reforms in Ghana—Towards Equity and Sustainability” under the broader theme, “Transforming Universities for 21st Century Africa.”
Prof. Jinapor emphasized that many of the new academic programmes introduced in Ghana’s tertiary institutions lack relevance to the country’s developmental goals and are not tailored to address the specific challenges facing the nation.
To address this, GTEC noted it is working to introduce more rigorous approval processes for new programmes to ensure that they meet both national and local needs.
The Need for Reform in Higher Education
This call for reform comes at a critical time when Ghana’s higher education sector is grappling with several challenges.
The expansion of student populations has outpaced the growth of infrastructure, and there has been insufficient investment in modernizing facilities.
Additionally, the country’s universities are heavily reliant on aging faculty, with a growing shortage of qualified academic staff.
As part of its ongoing efforts to address these challenges, GTEC has been actively involved in improving staffing levels.
Prof. Jinapor revealed that the Ministry of Education had given financial clearance for the recruitment of 1,341 staff to replace those who had left the system.
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Despite this, the sector remains dependent on post-retirement contract appointments, with the government’s annual expenditure on these contracts exceeding GH¢127 million in public universities.
In the 2024/2025 academic year alone, GTEC disclosed its processed 231 applications for post-retirement contracts from universities, with 111 senior lecturers and 120 professors requesting reappointment.
Addressing Staffing and Capacity Building
To address staffing shortages, GTEC has proposed that universities be allowed to automatically replace exited staff, under the commission’s supervision.
This move is aimed at ensuring that the sector has enough qualified personnel to meet the increasing demand for higher education in the country.
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GTEC is also working to improve the quality of research and scholarly output in Ghana’s universities.
The commission will host its first “GTEC Harmattan School” in 2025, a capacity-building event focused on scholarly research writing and grantsmanship.
The school will be held at the University for Development Studies, providing a platform for academics to enhance their research skills and engage with international experts in their fields.
A Call for African Unity in Higher Education
During the conference, Prof. Toyin Falola, a professor of political science at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, made a compelling call for greater collaboration among African universities.
Speaking via Zoom, he urged regulatory bodies across the continent to allow PhD and master’s students to present their theses in local languages, a move he believes would enhance the accessibility of higher education and make it more relevant to African communities.
Furthermore, Prof. Falola advocated for the development of joint PhD and master’s programmes between African universities.
He argued that such collaboration could help address the challenges posed by the rapidly growing youth population in Africa. By 2030, the youth population on the continent is expected to reach 830 million, many of whom may face unemployment and social instability.