Conversion of Wa Campus into university will enhance devt— Prof. Yankah
The Minister of State in Charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, has said the conversion of the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies into a fully-fledged university will attract development into the Upper West Region.
Prof. Yankah who moved the motion for the second reading of the bill on the floor of Parliament last Tuesday said the university would be known as the University of Business and Integrated Development Studies.
Economic activities
He said with the establishment of a full university in the Upper West Region, one of the poorest regions in the country, businesses and other economic-related activities were going to be attracted to that area.
The minister of state told Parliament that the conversion of the university formed part of the government’s policy to have a publicly-funded university in all the regions of Ghana.
The University of Business and Integrated Development Studies Bill, 2018 was presented to the house and read for the first time on Tuesday, December 11, 2018 and has been taken through the second reading stage in Parliament.
The Bill seeks to establish the University of Business and Integrated Development Studies as a public tertiary institution in Wa in the Upper West Region to be an outstanding internationally acclaimed applied research and practical-oriented educational institution dedicated to the development of business and integrated development studies in the country.
Education committee
The Speaker, Prof. Mike Oquaye, subsequently refered the bill to the parliamentary committee on education for consideration as this was in accordance with Article 106 (4) and (5) of the 1992 Constitution and Order 186 of the Standing Orders of the house.
The Parliamentary Committee on Education in a report to Parliament last Tuesday recommended to the house to adopt its report on the University Of Business and Integrated Development Studies Bill 2018 as the conversion would contribute to making tertiary education more accessible, particularly to the people in the Upper West Region and accelerate the development of the region.
Presenting its report on the floor of Parliament after the Minister of State had moved the motion for the second reading, the committee said having thoroughly examined the Bill, it was of the considered view that the provisions of the bill conformed to the relevant provisions of the 1992 Constitution.
Ultimate development
The report said the university, when established, would also afford the Upper West Region the opportunity to have its own public funded university like other regions of the country.
The committee noted that the Upper West Region was the poorest, least developed and under resourced of all the regions in the country, a situation which tended to affect access to education, training and ultimately the development of the region.