Ghana Universities To Reduce Intake Or Close Down

Panafrican News Agency August 6, 1999

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The Ghanaian Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals has decided that the universities in the country will have to "admit only the number of students that available financial resources can cater for," pending the identification of additional funding.

"This would mean admitting no fresh students and laying off about 30 percent of continuing students, says a statement issued in Accra Thursday and signed by the committee's Chairman, A.K. Tuah.

The committee said the other alternative was to "close down until such time that adequate financial resources are obtained from sponsors of students, the government or parents."

The statement said, "much as the universities do not wish to impose hardships on students, they cannot run any credible academic programmes in the 1999/2000 academic year without additional funding."

Ghanaian universities require between 3.2 million cedis and 9.5 million cedis to train just one student in humanities, sciences and medicine. It said government "grants and income from other sources over the past five years have amounted to less than 60 percent of (their) requirements."

The universities, the statement said, "have had to live with recurring shortfall in funding of about 40 percent on yearly average."

In order to meet the gap in funding, the committee said the universities were forced to resort to bank-borrowing at very high interest rates.

"The shortfalls have serious implications for the delivery of quality academic programmes which should normally include lectures, tutorials, laboratory, studio and workshop practical training, field work and supervision of students' independent study toward dissertation."

This has resulted, "in a serious attack" on the integrity of degrees awarded by the universities by some employers and international organisations, "with some of them threatening to withdraw recognition or accreditation.".

The committee, therefore, has suggested an increase in the charge for academic facility user fee to raise adequate resources. "These charges range from 290,000 to 320,000 cedis per student per year for humanities and 430,000 cedis to 460,000 cedis per student per year for science and applied