Accreditation body head calls for tougher powers

Executive Secretary of the National Accreditation Board Kwame Dattey has called for the board to be given “unfettered powers” to close down institutions, private or public, that do not conform to regulations, in the ongoing crusade to maintain standards in Ghana’s higher education sector.

In an interview with University World News, Dattey said the National Accreditation Board (NAB) has been critical to the survival of the tertiary education sector in the country, ensuring both its growth and standards, particularly in the context of the rapid growth in private higher education provision.

The NAB and the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) came into being in 1995 following recommendations of a commission looking into how to reform university education in the country. “Before then, tertiary education was the exclusive preserve of the public universities,” Dattey said.

“If we [the NAB] had not been there, there would have been chaos because there are those in the sector that, if we decide to close our eyes, do not do what is expected of them.”

He said many investors in the sector see tertiary education simply as a money-making avenue and do not care about standards or the need to allow institutions to grow over time.

“There is no point in offering so many courses if you do not have the people to teach. If you do not have the capacity to teach 100 students on a course, do not admit that number,” he said.

Growing outcry over standards

There is a growing outcry about standards in tertiary institutions across Africa with some attributing a perceived decline in standards to poor regulation and to political influence in the work of accreditation boards. However, Dattey is optimistic about the future of higher education in Ghana – as long as there is an independent accreditation body “to work in the ultimate interests of the country”.

He said the only way forward is to “give the NAB unfettered powers to close down institutions that are not conforming to regulations, whether public or private”, adding that, “There should be no need for anyone to cry foul when erring institutions or departments are closed down.”

He also said the government should not establish public universities and then neglect them. There was a need for the authorities to monitor courses and understand what is required to ensure courses are viable, especially critical courses such as medicine, engineering and law, he said.

Dattey’s comments come in the wake of unconfirmed reports of a merger later this year between the NCTE and the NAB to form an education commission to monitor and evaluate tertiary education in Ghana.

In a previous edition, University World News reported that Kwaku Ansa-Asare of the Council of Independent Universities said he was “hopeful that a planned merger of the National Accreditation Board and the National Council for Tertiary Education, to be replaced by an education commission in July, will help remove the ambiguity in the performance of the two institutions”.

Despite requests, the ministry of education has not confirmed this development. The NCTE, which was established to provide policy guidance to the sector, also declined a request by this journalist to interview its executive director on the issue of sector quality regulation, referring University World News to its declaration and action plan – Crafting a National Vision and Plan for the 21st Century – which is a product the National Summit on Tertiary Education held in Ghana in November 2016.

Orderly development

According to the plan, the council has put in place plans to develop a policy to support the orderly development of private tertiary education institutions by 2019. In addition, the council intends to collaborate with higher education institutions to develop a policy this year on sustainable funding, including mechanisms for cost-sharing and fund allocation for the whole sector.

The NCTE plans are part of a framework on quality assurance in tertiary education in Ghana set to be in place by 2020. In terms of the framework, all institutions will need to develop policies on quality assurance and implement them to promote transparent and fair mechanisms to measure student learning outcomes and performance of academic staff, administrators and support staff and institute programmes for continuous improvement.

The NCTE is also seeking the support of the Ghana Education Trust Fund and the ministry of education to provide targeted funding for quality improvements in institutions, according to the plan.

According to the NCTE document, the council is in talks with the government to provide tax incentives to encourage the siting of private institutions in under-served areas by next year. In addition, it will build the capacity of governing councils and senior managers of tertiary education institutions with a view to sharing current knowledge in the governance and management of higher education institutions.

The plans come against the backdrop of fears that the tertiary education sector is entering uncharted waters with more students expected to seek admission into the universities in the next three years, following the government’s expansion of the secondary sector in the wake of its ‘Free Senior High School’ programme that began this year.

According to civil society group the Social Enterprise Development Foundation of Ghana, the implementation of the Free Senior High School programme has led to increased enrolments at the secondary high school level from 300,195 students in the 2016-17 academic year to 396,951 students in the 2017-18 academic year, representing an increment of 32.2%.

Available data from the education ministry shows that enrolments in universities are not meeting demand. For example, enrolment increased from 102,548 in 2008-09 to 147,180 in 2014-15.

Currently, there are 10 public universities, 30 private universities, eight technical universities and one open university in Ghana.