IPS to ensure high standards in education - Registrar

Accra, Sept. 22, GNA - The authorities of Institute of Professional Studies (IPS) on Thursday pledged to ensure high standards in the educational sector by ensuring that its degrees were not attained through fraudulent documentation. They said it would achieve this aim among other measures by scrutinising and authenticating certificates used by applicants seeking admission into the Institute.

The pledge was made in a statement issued in Accra and signed by the Registrar on circumstances that led to lawsuits filed against it by a past student, Mr Maxwell Asore Abugri for withdrawing his Bachelor of Science Marketing Degree. It said many had been found culpable through this exercise, and if an error had been committed in the isolated case involving Mr Abugri in the quest for due diligence, IPS was humble enough to admit its error but took solace in the adage that, 91it is better to err on the side of caution'. The statement said IPS as an institution acknowledged the overriding value of the rule of law in the administration of public affairs and sees the courts as central institutions in upholding the rule of law. "In the particular instance of this case, IPS deems it an obligation= to respect the orders of the court to reinstate Maxwell Asore Abugri's Degre= e. It is also important to note that records of IPS official documentation fro= m the Technical Examinations Unit as at now, does not confirm the authenticit= y of Mr Abugri's Diploma in Business Studies certificate with which he appl= ied to IPS. "IPS withdrew Mr. Abugri's certificate because the Technical Examinations Unit could not confirm the authenticity of his certificate." The statement said IPS held nothing personal against Mr Abugri and would have had no reason to withdraw his certificate had the Technical Examinations Unit confirmed the authenticity of his DBS certificate with which he applied to IPS. In this regard, it is again interesting to note that as at now, certificates sent to the Technical Examinations Unit for verification in 2009 are yet to be confirmed. The question which remains to be answered is whether or not the degrees of these students should be withheld or released.

Meanwhile, the academic Board had already decided to re-instate Mr Abugri's degree in compliance with the orders of the court prior to the serving of contempt against the Rector and Registrar. IPS cannot take delight in withholding certificates of students it has educated and trained. IPS therefore thanks Mr Maxwell Asore Abugri for the role he has played in initiating a discussion on the mode of the certification of the Diploma in Business Studies (DBS) by the Technical Uni= t of the Ghana Education Service. IPS believes that combining two different results from different sittings under one index number is not a best practice. There is, therefore= , the need to reform the current practice of merging results from different sittings under the same index number to conform to international standards.