Students of Ideas College want authorities, NAB to speedily address problems

Students of Ideas University College at Fiapre near Sunyani on Monday expressed worry about the National Accreditation Board’s (NAB) withdrawal of the College’s accreditation.

They blamed the Board for lack of due diligence in the award of accreditation to the College, describing the withdrawal as “very unfair”.

Mr. Daniel Adama, secretary of the interim Students Representative Council (SRC) was reacting to a letter from the NAB , addressed to the Principal of the College, which “directed the withdrawal of the institution’s accreditation and by extension, accreditation granted any of its programmes”.

The letter stated that, at the 83rd meeting of the NAB on Friday, October 21, 2011, a report from the board’s fact-finding mission to the college was discussed and the revocation of the College’s accreditation was announced.

The Interim SRC secretary told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that, in December last year, the school was shut down and academic activities had subsequently grounded to a halt.

“We were supposed to write an end of semester examination last December when the controversy over the proprietorship of the institution came up and the examination was scrapped,” he stated.

The secretary, therefore, appealed to the NAB and management of the College to get down to the bottom of the issue and address the problem to help normalize activities on campus.”

The said letter from NAB catalogued acts that contravened sections 21 and 24 of NAB Act 744 and sections 15(c), (d) and (e) of the tertiary institutions(establishment and accreditation) regulations, 2010(L.I. 1984).

They include controversy over the proprietorship of the institution that had led to a split of the student body into two groups, thus taking academic instruction from ‘two campuses’ of the institution and, thereby, jeopardizing academic work and the future of the students.

Other reasons are the non–existence of a governing council, contrary to the provisions made on the institution’s organogram with supporting documents of membership of council submitted to NAB for accreditation consideration.

For operating another campus without the knowledge and consent of the Board, operating four unaccredited Bachelors programmes and three unaccredited diploma programmes, admitting students not qualified by National Council for Tertiary Education’s criteria, are also reasons for the shut-down of the College.

There is also a charge of incomplete affiliation agreement with the proposed mentoring institution since the institution was issued with accreditation.

There is no formal lease agreement for the use of the buildings occupied by the institution, which was a condition for the grant of accreditation and non-compliance of which resulted in the split at the expense of the unsuspecting students.

The College was also blamed for non-communication of any of the listed challenges to the board as the established body for ensuring quality in tertiary education in the country.

Mr Adama said, since the controversy over proprietorship of the institution cropped up, the students had held several meetings and discussions with management of the College but had yielded no concrete results.

“The school authorities have only said things would be restored to normalcy but as I speak nothing has happened and the situation is the same”, he added.

He said:” The students are very much concerned about the re-opening of the College because there are a lot of workers who are studying here who come from different locations as far as from Bawku, Bolgatanga and Wa at weekends for lectures and we are made to pay GH¢650.00 per semester.

“The students are more than 300 on the two campuses and we are being denied access to education,” he stated.

The interim SRC secretary urged the two directors claiming ownership of the College to reconcile so they could “come together and build the institution, saying "that matter is at the centre of the controversy”.

Mr. Adama also questioned the basis on which accreditation was initially granted the College and asked if it was on “merit or through influence”.

He appealed to the Regional Minister, traditional rulers and the NCTE to go to their assistance for an amicable resolution of the matter.

The interim secretary also appealed to the NAB to, as a matter of urgency, to instruct the authorities of the College to conduct the examination that had been suspended as it was very crucial and important for the attainment of a transcript to enable them to continue their education in other institutions.**