The Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Central University (CU), Professor Bill Puplampu, has urged the Tertiary Education Commission to look carefully at the matter of regulatory oversight exercised by the professional bodies and by the commission.
He expressed concern over multiple demands, timeless, costs and requirements placed on higher education institutions on accreditation or review of some programmes.
Professor Puplampu stated these at the 21st congregation ceremony of Central University in Accra, at the weekend.
He commended the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission for bringing order into the accreditation space with its recent attention to the accreditation challenges of some of the known universities.
This he said, was noteworthy because it simply attested to the fact that the rule of law and the regulation was valuable for order in the society and showed that irrespective of size, might and age, rules are rules.
He said, appropriate support for private universities could assist to expand the enrollment situation if they implemented a fee credit/voucher system that allowed qualified students to take their fee voucher to any university of their choice.
He noted that the solution to the country’s higher education gross enrollment targets and the solution to access, affordability and inclusiveness challenges did not lie in unbridled expansion of the public higher education space.
Speaking on environmental sustainability, the professor said institutions must ensure that “our rules on the built and unbuilt environment are enforceable.”
The VC said the university had set up a counselling and careers service to ensure appropriate psychological and guidance support for the students, and added that as this initiative grew, the service would expand to catchment communities, especially to the secondary schools in the Miotso, Dawhenya and the Abossey Okai, Mateheko and Kaneshie areas.
In all, 961 students from 30 undergraduate programmes and 118 students from various post graduate programmes graduated.
Out of the total, 73 received first class degrees and 18 received special awards and commendations.
Courses pursued by the students included, BSc. Civil Engineering, BSc. Computer Science, BSc. Information Technology, BA Social work, BA Communication Studies, BSc. Economics, BA Environment and Development Studies, BSc. Agribusiness, BSc. Management Studies, BSc. Banking and Finance and Bachelor of Law; among others.
BY DANIEL AMOO