‘Stringent admission requirements obstacle to tertiary education’
The President of Kings University College (KUC), Dr Felix Kwame Semavor, has said the stringent admission requirements to tertiary institutions are depriving a lot of Ghanaians of the opportunity to further their education to higher levels.
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He said the regulator, the National Accreditation Board (NAB), had made the admission requirement so strict to the extent that only students with six credit passes were eligible for admission to a university of their choice.
Dr Semavor, who made the remark at the sixth matriculation ceremony of the school in Accra, said the current system was not favouring a lot of Ghanaians who wanted to pursue their undergraduate studies at the tertiary level.
“At present, the admission requirements are stringent; only students with six credit passes at grade C6 or better in Core English and Core Mathematics with overall aggregate not above 36 are eligible for enrolment in Ghanaian universities.
“In the past five years on average, less than 20 per cent of students who sat for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) qualified for enrolment in Ghanaian universities,” he stated.
Measures
Notwithstanding the challenges, Dr Semavor stated that the university had put measures in place to assist WASSCE graduates to gain admission to tertiary institutions without difficulties.
He said the university had introduced pre-university certificate programmes which offered tuition to students to enable them to better their WASSCE grades before their enrolment in tertiary institutions.
“As part of the measures to help students, the university has developed a two-year academic pre-university certificate programme targeted at senior high school (SHS) graduates who are unable to be enrolled in Ghanaian universities as a result of defective grades in core English Language and Mathematics,” he stressed.
Matriculation
Dr Semavor asked the students to see their entry into the university as an opportunity and a challenge to work harder for a brighter future.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, congratulated the newly admitted students.
He urged them to study hard to make a mark before leaving the school, adding that they were the future of the country.
Government’s commitment
Dr Prempeh expressed the government’s commitment to assist private tertiary institutions to flourish.
“Government is committed to ensuring the development of a healthy, knowledgeable, well-trained and disciplined labour force with the capacity to drive and sustain growth,” he said.
Dr Prempeh also encouraged private tertiary institutions to strengthen their research base to contribute to the development of the country.
He added, “The greatest contribution a university can make to national development is the quality of its research and the application of research findings.”