LIBERIA

President declares public universities tuition-free
Liberia’s President George Weah has declared the University of Liberia and all public universities tuition-free for undergraduate students in the country. He made the announcement last week before hundreds of cheering students at the University of Liberia’s Capitol Hill Campus in Monrovia during a planned visit to the university, writes Ismail Akwei for Face2Face Africa.The declaration, according to the former football star, was to make Liberia an example to other African nations on the continent, reports local media The African Exponent. This announcement comes as a surprise because it follows a fee-hike protest by the students of the University of Liberia, who had recently met with the president at his foreign affairs offices where they complained about the 2018-19 academic year’s fees.
At that meeting the students said a decision by the university to increase fees was not in the interest of students and complained about a contravention of the university’s policy which states that the decision to increase fees should not be unilateral but should meet the approval of the university’s board of trustees, the faculty board, student leadership and the president of Liberia. The president summoned the university’s leadership after meeting the students and he subsequently announced the visit to the university.
Full report on Face2Face Africa site