Private universities urged to merge
The President of the Presbyterian University College, Ghana (PUCG), Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Adow Obeng, has proposed to private universities with common historical roots and mindset to merge their institutions so as to be able to survive in the face of huge financial outlays involved in running universities.
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He said the current financial distress of many private universities was compounded by the huge sums they had to pay to mentoring universities and regulatory bodies.
Making the suggestion at the 10th congregation of the PUCG at the Okwahu Campus at Abetifi, Rev. Prof. Obeng said the affiliation charges of the mentoring institutions and the accreditation fees of the regulatory bodies were too high that very little of the university’s funds remained for infrastructure, faculty and staff development and training and research.
Graduates
In all, 661 students graduated after pursuing courses in Business Administration, Business Economics, Agribusiness, Rural and Community Development, Environmental and Natural Resources Management, ICT, Mathematics, Nursing and Physician Assistantship.
They comprised 352 males and 309 females.
Fifty-five of the students had First Class Honours, 289 students received Second Class Upper Division and 217 students had Second Class Lower Division.
Mergers
Rev. Prof. Obeng said the establishment and administration of tertiary institutions was an expensive enterprise, adding, “There is the need for the existing private universities to think of mergers - the merger of common-minded universities or universities with same historical roots are to merge to ensure their survival.”
Rev. Prof. Obeng appealed to the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to put a cap on the establishment of new private universities to enable the already established private universities to survive and improve on their delivery.
He, however, suggested that exception should be given to tertiary institutions that would want to focus on science, technology, health and medical sciences.
He also urged the government to review its policy on taxing private universities.
Rev. Prof. Obeng said the PUCG was receiving accreditation for two new programmes in Education – Bachelor of Education (Business Studies) and Bachelor of Education (Social Studies), adding that those two departments were the foundation departments of the Faculty of Education.
New academic programmes
Academic programmes that have been developed by the university to commence soon are MA in International Development, Med in Educational Studies, MSc in Environmental Health and Sanitation, and MSc in Natural Resources Management.
The others are MSc in Forensic Audit and Investigation, MSc in Financial Risk Management and MA in Public Relations and Corporate Communications, BSc. Actuarial Science, BSc. Optometry, Law and BSc. Midwifery.
The Chancellor of the PUCG and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rt. Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Martey, urged the graduates to ensure that they became beneficial to society.
