NAB cautions public against un-accredited tertiary institutions

The National Accreditation Board (NAB) has once again reminded the public that it is the body vested with the authority to accredit tertiary education institutions and their programmes in Ghana.

That, it said, was in consonance with the National Accreditation Board Act, 2007 (Act 744) operationalized by the Tertiary Institutions (Establishment and Accreditation) Regulations, 2010 (L.I 1984),

“All stakeholders, especially potential students, parents etc. are hereby reminded once again that they should always ascertain the accreditation status of institutions and their programmes before they apply and enroll in them.

“This can be done from the board’s office or visiting its website (www.nab.gov.gh)”, a statement signed by the acting Executive Secretary of the NAB, Dr Kingsley Nyarko, said.

It said failure to do that may cause a lot of embarrassment /hardship to an applicant either in the immediate or foreseeable future.

“Parents, students and the general public are hereby encouraged to visit the NAB website (www.nab.gov.gh) for the list of accredited tertiary education institutions and their approved programmes in Ghana,” it, and added members of the public can also call board’s hotline <\a> 030 7030248 for further enquires.

Honourary degrees

The NAB recently expressed concern at the spate of conferment of honorary degrees and emeritus professorships on some important personalities by some unaccredited institutions, accredited institutions unqualified to award degrees on their own or other institutions with doubtful credentials.

It said the conferment of honorary degrees was the prerogative of degree awarding institutions so mandated, and, therefore, “accredited private tertiary institutions operating under the mentorship of chartered, degree-awarding universities are not qualified by themselves to confer honorary degrees”.

It said any such institutions that did so were in contravention of Regulation 19 (1) of Legislative Instrument 1984 which states that: “An accredited institution shall not issue certificates or award its own degrees, diplomas or honorary degree without a charter granted to it for that purpose by the President”.