Prof Appiagyei-Atua has stated that academic freedom includes a student's right to critically engage with academic content, express dissenting views, and participate in the governance of educational institutions without fear of repression.

He made this assertion at a Student Union Training Workshop organized by the Africa Coalition for Academic Freedom (ACAF) on May 20, 2025. The workshop aimed to empower tertiary student leaders across Ghana to understand, defend, and exercise their academic rights and freedoms.

Prof Appiagyei-Atua, who is also the Regional Director of ACAF in Ghana, emphasized that students are not just passive recipients of knowledge but active participants in shaping the academic environment.

“Each actor in the academic space — be it the state, the university, or the student — plays a unique role in upholding this freedom, and it is essential that students understand and assert these rights responsibly,” he noted.

Dr. Eugenia Anderson, a lecturer in the Department of History and Political Science at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), provided historical context on student activism in Ghana.

She recounted how, under former President Kwame Nkrumah, independent student groups like the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) often faced state-sponsored opposition aimed at weakening their influence.

According to Dr. Anderson, these historical patterns of antagonism toward student advocacy have had lasting effects on student engagement and autonomy in Ghana’s higher education system.

The event brought together delegates from major student bodies, including the Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana (GRASAG), the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), the Ghana Union of Professional Students (GUPS), the Ghana National Union of Technical Students (GNUTS), the Private Universities Students’ Association of Ghana (PUSSAG), and the National Health Students’ Association of Ghana (NHASAG).

AM/KA