Gov’t must support private universities develop human resource – CUCG Dean

The Acting Dean of the Faculty of Information and Communication Sciences and Technology, (ICST) at the Catholic University College of Ghana, Dr. Patrick Ohemeng Gyasi, says government should provide human development support to private universities.


His comment is in connection with the debate over whether or not government should provide any support to private universities in Ghana with educationists and stakeholders divided on the matter.
Dr. Gyasi who was speaking to Might Morning Flight Host Shaibu Awudu, said the government will be doing itself a lot of good if it supports in building the capacity of lecturers of private universities.
He said a greater percentage of graduates from private universities end up working in the public sector there by boosting the level of production in that sector.
Various private universities have been calling on governments for support but there are debates that because of their revenue generation being higher as compared to public universities, they should be able to finance their activities without any government help.
Dr. Gyasi opined that since the delivery of quality education has to be the sole responsibility of every government to its people, whiles fully funding public universities, it has to also support in at least building the capacities of lecturers as well as supporting individual students in private universities.
He recognized the difficulty of governments to provide certain supports but said these are basic in the provision of quality education to the people as is embedded in the constitution of Ghana and captured in every government’s manifesto.
According to Dr. Gyasi, the regulations by government in the setting up of universities in the country are quite weak and give way for non – recognized and non – reputable groups and individuals to set up universities making governments lack confidence in the kind of institutions it is expected to fund.
“Elsewhere before you can set up a private university, it should be coming from either a religious organization or a foundation with reputable people on the board and as trustees so that in case something happens, the government can easily identify those people” Dr. Gyasi said.
Many have argued that private universities could face some level of interference from government if it funds their activities but Dr. Ohemeng Gyasi said the universities can be free from this if they don’t allow the government to fund their entire operation.