A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof Ivan Addae-Mensah has pointed at a number of anomalies in the country�s tertiary educational system.
While speaking during one of the public lectures commemorating the centenary celebration themed, �The Challenges of Tertiary Education In Ghana� last week, Prof Addae-Mensah noted that these institutions �are drifting away from their assigned norms and are distorting national manpower requirements and objectives.�
He said the official national standard is for tertiary institutions to attain a ration of 60:40 science to humanities, but was quick to add that the current trend follows an opposite direction, which according to an imperative record he presented, points at �a ratio of 43:57 science to humanities in 1996/97, the ratio dipped to a ratio of 34:66 in 2003/2004 and now hovers around 39:61.�
The situation, he noted, is even worse in the polytechnics where as he put it instead of being predominantly science and technology oriented, as is the case in the developed countries and emerging economies, the figure is skewed in favour of the humanities and widening further.
Polytechnics, he said, are supposed to provide the country�s critical human resources for middle-level technological services.
�If most people are doing marketing or business studies in the polytechnics then who should produce for the markets to market?� he asked rhetorically.
�The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology is believed to be mandated to aspire towards a national norm of 90 percent science students. However from a ratio of 77% science to 23 percent arts in 2000/01, the ratio has dwindled to 59 percent science to 41 percent humanities as at 2010� he said.
At the afore-mentioned rate, he observed �it is going to take the country a very long time to achieve these norms and obtain the requisite critical mass of scientific and technological personnel trained at the highest possible level that can transform the country�s economy as envisaged by various UN and other reports.�
Our universities, he said, can only grow and achieve excellence if government provides them with the necessary financial backing in both teaching and research.
The funding of universities in the country, he noted, is inadequate and makes it difficult to manage undergraduate studies, �let alone have surplus for research.
He noted that young academic staff do not have the requisite track-record to be able to write grant-winning proposals and compete for research grants on a global or even regional scale to enable them do any meaningful research.�
Pointing at the country�s premier university in the past decade with 18 departments and institutes as an example, he said �They have been receiving just about the equivalent of US$10,000 per annum to run all programmes including undergraduate and graduate teaching and research.�
The former Vice Chancellor took exception at what he referred to as the worldwide commodification of tertiary education and called on the authorities to be mindful of the development.
�The main objective of these spurious institutions is simply to make quick money at the expense of gullible individuals anxious to obtain any form of paper qualification that they believe will open up fresh opportunities for them� he said.
He said it is not uncommon for these people whose educational qualifications are nothing to write home about to �suddenly emerge with a university degree or titles of Dr or Professor only after a few months� sojourn abroad.�
He added �the most popularly degrees are Master�s Degree in Business Administration, Degree in Economics and Finance, Doctorates in Divinity or Bible Studies, Information Technology and Computer Science. Even medicine has not been spared.�
He said the gentleman in whose memory the lectures have been instituted was a lover of quality higher education, recalling how when Paa Willie, as he was fondly called, held the position of Chairman of the Council of State from 1979 to 1981 often raised the issues with the then President Hilla Limann during their numerous interactions. The lectures have been themed on various important subjects regarding the country�s development and have drawn renowned Ghanaian intellectuals since they commenced.
Important dignitaries such as the Minority Leader in Parliament and his deputy, Prof Ameyaw Ekumfi, Dr. Osei Akoto and Hon. Mahama Ayariga were some of those who graced the foregone lecture.
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