Government, industry support to private universities paramount for growth, says educationist
The head of the council of independent universities has emphasised the need for partnerships between the government, faith-based organisations and entrepreneurs to ensure the survival of private universities
Albert Ayikwei Addo-Quaye, the chairman of the council of independent universities, says private universities need the support of government and industry to deliver quality higher education for growth and development.
He emphasised the need for partnerships between the government, faith-based organisations and entrepreneurs to ensure the survival of private universities to foster the national development agenda.
Addo-Quaye made this known at the maiden anniversary lecture in commemoration of the Methodist University Ghana’s (MUG) autonomy status.
On Tuesday, 30 August, 2022, the Methodist University College Ghana, now MUG, received a Presidential Charter effective 1 March, 2022. This granted autonomy status to the institution. It can now award its own degrees and certificates.
Addo-Quaye said that despite the growth in the number of private universities, the sector has been confronted with many challenges including fee collection, lack of access to funds for infrastructural development and high cost of commercial loans to meet operation expenses.
He highlighted the need for a funding arrangement to enable private universities to absorb a percentage of the beneficiaries of the free senior high school (SHS) education to receive funding to support their university education tuition.
“This will enable the private universities to charge only the top up tuition fee difference between what the state provides and what the private universities require,” Addo-Quaye opined.
He added that, with the free SHS system fully operationalised, the government must partner with credible private universities to admit students who could not gain admission to public universities. He said this will be a better option than expanding public universities.
“There is no need in pushing the University of Ghana, for instance, to expand facilities and increase its student population to 50,000 or 60,000 to absorb free-SHS students when 2 or 3 private universities can properly assist and admit a number of them,” he said.
Addo-Quaye, who is the president of Kings University College, said a more systematic approach should be concluded to enable private universities to access the Ghana Education Trust Fund for infrastructural development.
He said many private universities have room for expansion their facilities in the area of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) but have been constrained by the high cost of capital expenditure.
The chairman called on faith-based organisations (FBO) and entrepreneurs, who have established private universities to provide the needed infrastructure to ensure smooth operations of the universities.
“Establish special funds for research and publications. This role is critical if the academic staff of private universities are to make any significant impact by solving problems in the communities and contribute to knowledge generation in their specific fields of study,” he said.
He said the FBOs and entrepreneurs must establish endowment funds for their higher education institutions to ensure availability of funds to support all aspects of operations.
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