Policy document on higher education to be made public

General News of Monday, July 29, 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

2019-07-29

The policy document on higher education, which constitutes a historic development, will soon be made available to the public, said Professor Kwesi Yankah, Minister of State for Higher Education.

He said that the peace and stability enjoyed by the country were further strengthened by the government's education reforms of recent years, arguably the deepest in Ghana's education history; affecting virtually all areas and sectors of education: from kindergarten to primary, through lower secondary, upper secondary and tertiary.

He added that these reforms ranged from program reforms to structural changes, from teacher professionalization, through structural changes in teacher training, to the achievement of equity and the development of teachers. expanding access to education through the various stages.

"Indeed, for the first time in recent history, Ghana now has a policy document on higher education, which summarizes the government's cardinal policies on higher education, from admissions to graduation, funding, graduate studies and cross-cutting issues related to gender, equity and inclusion. higher education and the labor market. "

Professor Yankah said this during the weekend during the fourth session of the 11th congregation of the University of Accra Professional Studies (UPSA).

A total of 657 students from UPSA's School of Graduate Studies graduated.

The total includes 18 Master of Philosophy students in Leadership, 632 Master of Business Administration students with various specializations and seven Masters of Science students in Leadership.

"It is indeed a joy to go through the policy document. It is in this document that the new centralized university application is described, with the aim of reducing the stress of applying to several universities at considerable cost, to a one-stop shop, where multiple applications are combined in a single effort. , at a time. unit cost. No stress, no tears, "he said.

For the government, expanding access to education means removing all barriers and barriers to access.

"If the application process is burdensome and expensive, the Nana Akufo-Addo government simply says that is unacceptable," he said.

"This compromises the quality of Ghana's human resource base and does not allow the nation to maximize its human resource potential, which would otherwise stimulate and transform the economy."

He said that, just by this policy, Ghana's gross enrollment rate in higher education, currently 16%, was to increase further.

He added that a public awareness program and stakeholder groups concerned on centralized application policy would be launched this Monday, July 29, pending the launch of the program. a project pilot project early next year.

According to Professor Yankah, a new admission policy introducing some flexibility in the consideration of some uncredited pbades for admission to universities and other institutions of higher education is even more important. important.

He added that the Ministry of Education was currently liaising with the National Council of Higher Education to clarify the implications of this new policy for admissions to universities and other relevant institutions.

He clarified that the status of clbades like D7 in some core subjects would thus be clarified to give some hope to some candidates in the humanities, for example, who had successfully completed mathematics without obtaining credit, but always denied access to courses where mathematics did not get in their way.

He added that the government was seeking to remove barriers to admission processes and policies that were simply unfair and discriminatory towards the majority of students from homes and institutions with fewer facilities, where Obtaining a credit card in all key areas was an exception rather than a rule. and where no provision was made even for a non-credit pbad in key areas.

He stated that the new education policy document was not intended to compromise the quality of education; rather, it aims to introduce greater equity in the admission process, as well as to align Ghana with more flexible admission practices in several countries, both near and far.

Professor Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey, vice-chancellor of UPSA, said that the university currently combines professional programs with normal degree programs, with the aim of making UPSA graduates. more relevant and more employable, thanks to their dual qualification system.

He congratulated the graduates for completing their studies and obtaining a scholarship with professionalism.