The Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Clement Abas Apaak, has charged African governments to make the financing of higher education central to their development agenda.
He said higher education financing must be treated as a strategic national investment and not merely an item of expenditure.
"When we finance the higher education of our young people, we build human capital, strengthen institutions and lay the foundation for the next generation,” Dr Apaak said that when he opened the Sixth Association of African Higher Education Financing Agencies (AAHEFA) International Conference in Accra yesterday.
Transformation
The two-day event is on the theme: "Digital Transformation in Higher Education Financing: The Role of Technological Advancements in Ensuring Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Higher Education Financing System in Africa.
The conference, which is being hosted by the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), is being attended by members from academia, researchers, policymakers and heads of higher education institutions, among others.
Dr Apaak said Africa's greatest resource was its people, who were the youngest population in the world.
That demographic reality, he said, was an extraordinary economic advantage only when young people had access to quality education, relevant skills and productive employment.
Opportunities
Without those opportunities, he said demographic growth became pressure rather than promise.
"This is why higher education financing must be treated as a strategic national investment, not merely an item of expenditure.
When we finance the education of our young people, we build human capital, strengthen institutions, and lay the foundation for the next generation.
That is why financing higher education must remain central to Africa's development agenda," he said.
The challenge, however, Dr Apaak said was real.
He said demand for higher education was rising even as governments operated within difficult fiscal environments, universities strain to expand capacity, and families face increasing costs.
At the same time, he said the world graduates were entering was changing rapidly and that artificial intelligence (AI) was reshaping industries, digital platforms were changing business models, and employers increasingly demand digital literacy, data analysis, problem-solving and adaptability.
"Our financing systems must evolve alongside our education systems,” he added.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SLTF, Dr Saajida Shiraz, said beginning this academic year, trust fund’s loan application system would be fully digitalised.
“On our portal, students will be able to validate their identities through live real-time verification with a National Identification Authority database and their Institutional Enrolment Database.
They will also be able to open e-accounts with the GCB Bank and other partner banks, possibly including the UMB, which is here today,” he stated.
Account
“And from this account, they would be able to withdraw funds without ever setting foot in a banking vault,” she said, adding, “First-time-ever, students of Ghana will be able to append their signatures to loan agreements without leaving the comfort of their homes”.
The Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, in an address read on his behalf, called for investment in young people on the continent, which must be done so intelligently, equitably and sustainably.
He said digital transformation must serve humanity.
The President and CEO of the AAHEFA, Dr John Machayi, said the conference was not simply about technology and that it was about the future of higher education financing and ultimately about the future of Africa’s human capital.
