Yankah decries malfeasance in universities

Kumasi, Oct. 27, GNA - Professor Kwesi Yankah, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, on Saturday appealed to university authorities to be proactive in dealing with the increasing spate of academic corruption that had rocked some universities in recent times. Prof Yankah said academic corruption in these universities could have the tendency of eroding public confidence in university degrees and reduce the positive impact of tertiary education on national development.

He was speaking at the matriculation of new students into the Christian Service University College in Kumasi.

Some 647 students were admitted into the departments of Business Studies, Theological Studies and Computer Science. Professor Yankah said it was imperative that the issues of fake certificates, forged examination results and admission letters as well as impersonation and examination malpractices were tackled seriously so as to retain the nation's image and that of the universities. He said the University of Ghana had mounted a major exercise to flush out students who engaged in such academic malfeasance and that the exercise was adopted as an integral part of the university's quality control processes.

"The crusade is aimed at sanitizing or rather purifying the academic processes from admissions through teaching and examinations to ensure that the quality of certificates issued by the university is preserved and assured", Prof Yankah said. He appealed to private universities to strive to add value to the programmes they run by employing competent staff to ensure that they produced quality graduates.