Council of Independent Universities celebrates anniversary
The Council of Independent Universities (CIU), formerly the Conference of Heads of Private Universities, Ghana (CHPUG), is to hold its eighth anniversary on Wednesday, May 14, at the Florence Onny Auditorium, Ghana Technology University College (GTUC) main campus,Tesano.
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The event, to be held on the theme, “Public-Private Partnership in Tertiary Education– The Way Forward”, will offer member institutions the opportunity to appraise the performance of the council and also make projections regarding its future projects and programmes.
It will also afford the council the opportunity to examine its membership and look at innovative ways of pushing forward the interest of its members towards the delivery of quality tertiary education.
Recognising the role private universities were playing in the area of human resource development in the country, heads of private universities in Ghana constituted themselves into a conference, which is now described as a council. The conference was formed at a meeting held on November 25, 2004 at the Central University College, Mataheko Campus, Accra, where the secretariat is currently located.
Membership of council
The membership of the council currently stands at 30, and structurally, CIU is governed by a four-member executive committee chaired by Prof. Kwesi Yankah, President, Central University College. Other executive members are Prof. Kofi Oduro-Afriyie, Vice-Chairman and Vice-Chancellor, Wisconsin International University College; Mr Martin Doku, Treasurer; and Mrs Anne Marie Amoah-Ahinful, Executive Secretary.
Speaking on the celebration, Prof. Yankah stated that the vision of the council was to articulate and promote issues relating to private tertiary education delivery in Ghana in order to foster world-class standards within the tertiary sector and to meet the demands of our country’s development. He added that CIU aimed at playing essential roles in shaping public policies that affect member institutions.
He noted further that "CIU’s core mandate is to embark on advocacy for quality tertiary education, fashion out policies and handle regulatory issues that affect member institutions".
Increase in SHS enrolment
He stressed that with the increase in enrolment in senior high schools, it was critical for all stakeholders to reconsider the issue of public-private partnership in the delivery of quality tertiary education.
He cited the 2012 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) which saw almost 180,000 students graduating from 652 schools in Ghana. This, he said, would have brought enormous difficulties on parents and students if private universities were not available to augment the number of public universities in Ghana. “Ghana needs strong public-private partnership when it comes to tertiary education,” he added.
He further stated that CIU was committed to advocating the delivery of quality tertiary education in Ghana and would invite all stakeholders who were passionate about education to see this event as an opportunity to come on board to deliberate on the issue of public-private partnership in tertiary education and the benefits thereof.