We will free private universities from oppressive policies – Prof. Yankah

The Minister of State in charge of tertiary education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, says government’s will free private tertiary institutions from policies that restrict them in their quest to attain full university status.

According to Professor Yankah, the stress and difficulties private universities go through will be a thing of the past because government is taking steps to liberate them from the “oppression” they have suffered for so long.

He was speaking on Thursday during his send-off party as former Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Central University College (CUC) at the New Senate Room, CU.

Professor Yankah observed that the attempt to set the private universities free “was a narrative that started whilst I was VC of the CUC”, adding that, “the experiences I went through were the experiences of all private universities in Ghana, and so if I got the opportunity to be there, I should make a move that would be of importance and significance not just to CUC but to liberate all private universities from oppression.” He reiterated government’s commitment to helping private tertiary education by offering a 25% tax waiver to private universities saying “that waiver is one of the things that started right here when I was VC, and we pursued it vigorously.”

The Chancellor of the CUC, Dr. Mensa Otabil, thanked Professor Yankah for his service to the university, saying “he is a man of peace, a gentleman, a man I deeply enjoyed working with.”

He reminisced on their working relationship by saying “the plans we hatched, and how we waited through many difficulties in the light of this university, managing important decisions affecting student, faculty, and staff life, and prayed through the frustrating process of acquiring a charter.”

The VC of the CUC, Professor Bill Buenar Puplampu, in appreciating the work of the former VC, observed the many achievements Professor Yankah chalked whilst with the CUC.

Among other things, he noted his role in instituting the Distinguish Lecture series that brought some significant people to the CUC podium, and the establishment of a Faculty Colloquia which helped galvanized research in the university.

Professor Puplampu also told of Professor Yankah’s role in launching a radio station for the School of Communication Studies of the CUC, and overseeing the review of the status of the University and its human resource situation.

He credited Professor Yankah with the opening of the Kumasi campus of the school and the construction of a befitting main gate for the Miotso campus and the acquiring of a presidential charter which made the CUC an independent institution.

As part of the CUC’s appreciation for the work done by Professor Yankah, he was immortalized into the school’s history after a block at the Miotso campus was named after him.