UG City Campus SRC appeals for subsidised fees
The Students Representative Council (SRC) of the University of Ghana, Accra City Campus (UG-ACC), has appealed to the government to subsidise the fees paid by students each academic year.
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The SRC President, Mr Delali Kporha, who made the call in an interview with the Daily Graphic, noted that students of UG-ACC did not enjoy government subsidies as compared to those on the main campus, adding that their fees continued to increase every academic year, resulting in a high rate of deferment and drop-outs.
Fees paid each academic year
Mr Kporha disclosed that in the 2014/2015 academic year, students admitted to offer degree programmes at the UG-ACC paid GH¢2,204 and GH¢1,774 for humanities and administration, respectively.
In the 2015/2016 academic year, he said, continuing students were to pay GH¢2,163 and GH¢2,662 for degree programmes in humanities and administration respectively, while fresh students were to pay GH¢3,002 and GH¢2,503 for humanities and administration.
At the main campus, he disclosed that in the 2014/2015 academic year, students admitted to offer degree programmes paid GH¢714 and GH¢786 for humanities and administration respectively, while in the 2015/2016 academic year, continuing students are to pay GH¢873 and GH¢952 for humanities and administration, with fresh students paying GH¢1,213 and GH¢1,292 for humanities and administration respectively.
He said the large margin between the fees paid by students of UG-ACC and those on the Legon campus was a source of concern and described that as an unfair treatment to students at the City Campus.
Petition
Mr Kporha said in July 2015 the SRC sent petitions to the various stakeholders of the university community, including the Ministry of Education, and the National Council for Tertiary Education, on fees paid by the UG-ACC, and also met with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education to discuss the same issue.
Establishment of the UG-ACC
The University of Ghana-Accra City Campus, then known as the Workers College, was established in 1962 to give workers the opportunity to improve their intellectual capacity and enhance their careers through formal education.
The establishment of the City Campus made it easier and convenient for workers who could not attend lectures regularly on the Legon campus to do so at the City Campus, but on fee-paying basis.
Mr Kporha indicated that a number of regular students who applied for admission to the Legon campus were now being admitted to the City Campus due to what he described as “unbearable pressure on the main campus.”
He, therefore, appealed to the government to offer subvention to students of the UG-ACC, to help reduce their fees and also encourage them to stay in school.