Merge smaller universities to boost global visibility — Prof. Alabi
A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Professor Joshua Alabi, has proposed to the government to merge the smaller public universities in the country to boost their global visibility and reduce the cost of university education.
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For instance, he said, tertiary institutions such as the Ghana Institute of Languages (GIL), the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) and the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) could be merged into one unique university to strengthen their research and academic activities.
Prof. Alabi made the proposal at the third anniversary lecture of the Baraka Policy Institute (BPI) in Accra last Thursday.
The theme of the lecture was: “Ensuring Inclusive and Equitable Quality Tertiary Education in Ghana: The Key Issues”
The programme was organised to draw the attention of the government and authorities to some inequalities in the system of the country.
The BPI is a social development think tank with a special focus on the promotion of social justice in the context of national development.
Quality academic staff
Prof. Alabi submitted that quality education and quality staff were key to developing tertiary education and, therefore, when smaller universities were merged, it would enable them to engage more qualified lecturers to produce quality students.
“Do we want employable graduates or graduates with employability skills?”, he asked.
Equal opportunity
Expressing keen interest in education, Prof. Alabi said access to tertiary education was the right of everyone, and appealed to universities to review their entry requirements in order to admit more students from less-endowed senior high schools.
“The dynamics of tertiary education have changed and, therefore, Ghana has to follow duly,” he said.
He said the learning process and the content of learning in tertiary education should change to produce quality students who could compete with international students.
The Executive Director of BPI, Mr Haruna Zagoon-Sayeed, said most students who were able to enter tertiary institutions were those who went to well-endowed schools, while students from the less-endowed schools were usually left behind.
He underscored the need for people in Zongo communities, rural areas and deprived communities to be given equal opportunities as those in urban and well-developed communities.