HIGHER NATIONAL DIPLOMA TO BE RECOGNISED

The National Council for Tertiary Education, (NCTE), says it has solved the problem of placement of the Higher National Diploma on the job market. The issue of inadequate lecturers at the polytechnics is also being tackled through the sponsorship of lecturers at the Polytechnics for further courses in Ghana and South Africa. The Executive Secretary of the Council, Professor Adrian deHeer-Amissah, made this known during a meeting with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education in Accra on Thursday 23 October. The meeting was at the instance of the Committee to discuss the National Tertiary Education Programme and the general operations of the NCTE. Prof, deheer-Amissah gave a brief background of tertiary education in the country, noting that since the late 1970s, the sector has continued to see little growth. He attributed this situation to a number of factors, especially, inadequate funding. Professor deheer-Amissah said as at now, the tertiary sector receives only 12% of its funding from the education budget. However, it needs at least between 15% to 16% to operate for next year. He urged parliament to support the Council especially, in the area of cost-sharing in education to enable government to concentrate more on the rehabilitation and extension of facilities in tertiary institutions, another area that prof. deHeer-Amissah said needs attention is the amount of interest government absorbs on the students loans.