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 Prof. Kwesi Yankah delivering his address. Picture: EMMANUEL ASAMOAH ADDAI

Include private universities as GETFund beneficiaries — Prof. Yankah

The President of Central University, Professor Kwesi Yankah, has called on the government to include private universities as beneficiaries of the GETFund-sponsored projects.

He said students of private universities should also be considered for GETFund scholarships as products of those universities contributed to the human capital of the country.

Prof. Yankah was speaking at the Council of Independent Universities (CIU) conference (formerly known as Conference of Heads of Private Universities in Ghana) in Accra yesterday.

 

The conference, which formed part of the 10th anniversary of the council, brought together heads and officials of about 35 private universities to discuss issues concerning private universities. 

Inferior universities

Prof. Yankah alluded to the fact that some initiatives by the government aggravated the impression that private universities were inferior and that their products had little or nothing to offer.

That, he said, promoted unnecessary sectionalism, adding that “the practice could encourage the private sector to also insist on employing only graduates from private universities which would be an unfortunate turn of events”.

 Voters registration 

He further cited the just-ended limited voter registration exercise which did not consider private universities, a situation which he said clearly indicated the assumption that public universities were superior to private universities.

“Whereas references have been made to a large number of students in the public universities who are likely to be disenfranchised in a rather ill-planned exercise, hardly has reference been made to several thousands of students from over 50 or so private universities dotted across the country who have suffered the same plight as their counterparts in the public universities,” he lamented.

In spite of all discrimination, he said, private universities were not exempted from national service and took equal responsibility for voluntarily serving the nation in critical areas.

He, therefore, called for a policy of equal opportunity for graduates of both public and private universities based on qualification and merit.

He also urged the membership of the CIU to undertake peer review assessment to ensure quality assurance, work together with chartered universities and also work together to change policy on affiliation bottlenecks, duplication and facilitation.

Dr Darkwah

The Chairman of the CIU, Dr Osei K. Darkwah, in his address stressed the need to support the private universities to thrive.

Dr Darkwah, who is also the President of the Ghana Technology University College (GTUC),  noted that private and public universities were one as they both sought to improve the human resource capacity of the country; therefore, they should be given same priorities.

He said there was the need to equip university students with the requisite skills and knowledge to start their own businesses immediately after school instead of seeking for employment and intimated that private universities had taken the lead in entrepreneurship to ensure that graduates were innovative and creative.

Education fair

An educational fair to showcase private universities to senior high school students was also held as part of the anniversary and conference at the trade fair.

About 35 private universities were present at the fair to showcase their programmes and facilities to encourage more students to opt for the private sector.

Students from within and around Accra were present at the fair. 

 

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