Public Universities Bill recipe for total chaos – Academy of Arts and Sciences

The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences has kicked against the Public Universities Bill laid before Parliament seeking for it to be shelved because its “likely to be retrogressive, rather than enhancing what Ghanaian universities have achieved over the years.”

The Academy in a five-page document tabled before Parliament said they strongly believe this bill is dangerous and uncalled for insisting is a recipe for total chaos in Ghana’s tertiary education system.

In the view of the Academy, the Bill is also not in conformity with the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and must be dropped.

It suggested: “rather, Ghana needs a differentiated and diversified, but not necessarily hierarchical, university system, to offer the flexibility needed to address the changing needs of students and nations in an increasingly competitive and uncertain world.”

The decision by government to introduce a New University Bill has been greeted with reactions and various concerns from UTAG and some members of the general public.

The proposed law will seek to change the structure of the governing councils of the public universities with the majority of the council members being appointed by the President.

This will be a deviation from the norm where the university’s members are normally the majority.

Admission of students into the public universities will also be altered with the introduction of a centralised system.