Vice Chancellors agree on a 10-year graduated fee-increasing programme

Accra, Jan.12, GNA - The Vice Chancellors, Ghana (VCG) formerly the Committee of the Vice Chancellors and Principals has agreed on a 10-year graduated fee increasing programme for the country's six public Universities.

The programme begins from the next academic year with an increase in fees by 20 per cent due to the national and international inflationary trends and in an effort to provide quality education to industry, the economy and job market.


This was announced by Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana (UG), Legon at the handing over of the Chairmanship of the VCG to Professor Addo-Obeng, Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) at Legon on Wednesday. The Chairmanship rotates among the Vice Chancellors of the Universities yearly.


Professor Asenso-Okyere said 2004 was a very challenging year, considering the demands made by on-campus pressure groups such as the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) on the Government to improve conditions of service.


He said these demands culminated in disruptions of the academic calendar and the Strategic Plan of the VCG had been launched to address a new orientation and vision of public Universities in Ghana.

Professor Asenso-Okyere therefore, called on stakeholders in tertiary education such as Parliament and Cabinet to see the VCG as the Consultants and experts in education who could give testimonies and inputs into bills and policies on educational issues. He said, " Vice Chancellors should be seen as the voice of educational issues".


The Vice Chancellor of the UG, said the VCG was establishing relations with the Committee of Vice Chancellors in Nigeria as a first step towards creating collaborative relations with sister institutions in Africa, Europe and North America to promote education in Ghana. Professor Addo-Obeng in his acceptance speech commended his predecessor for giving the group a direction.


He called on various groups on the campuses, especially the student bodies, UTAG, Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) and FUSSAG to explore all avenues of negotiations to seek redress to their demands instead of seeing strike actions as the tool of achieving results. Professor Addo-Obeng said strike actions had an overall negative impact on national productivity and therefore, called on the public to take keen interest in the running of tertiary education in order to appreciate decisions taken by the various managements.


The VCG is made of the Vice Chancellors of the UG, UCC, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University for Development Studies (UDS), University of Education, Winneba (UEW) and the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa (UMaT).