Dr Kwabena Donkor, former Minister for Power and Member of Parliament of Pru East, has urged universities to align academic programmes with national manpower needs rather than the pursuit of internally generated funds (IGF).

He said many programmes in public universities were increasingly driven by revenue considerations instead of national development priorities, a situation he said risked undermining the quality and relevance of higher education.

Dr Donkor made these remarks on Wednesday when he addressed students of the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana (UG) during an interaction under the “Time with the Politician” series.

The programme is an initiative of the department, in collaboration with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Ghana, to create a platform for students to interact with experienced political leaders.

Dr Donkor expressed concern about the several academic programmes, particularly in business schools and law faculties, which were structured mainly to generate income for the universities.

“If we take all our public universities, the structure of academic courses today is largely driven by internally generated funding. They are not driven by national manpower planning,” he said.

“Universities run courses to make money, and I am not worried about stating that. Especially your business schools and law faculties, a number of programmes you run in our public universities are IGF-driven,” he added.

James Gardner highlights Akwaaba Magic’s role in Ghana's creative scene