Adopt modern approaches in tertiary education - Fobih

Page 24: January 8, 2008
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Professor Dominic Fobih, has called on tertiary institutions to adopt more modern and innovative approaches to providing tertiary education to the increasing number of qualified students.
He said given the current large number of students, new approaches, including taking advantage of new technologies such as audio-visuals and online learning, would have to be adopted to manage the situation.
Prof Fobih made the call in a lecture on, “The Current Educational Reform: Implications for tertiary education”, for participants at the 59th Annual New Year School in Accra yesterday. The school, which is being organised under the auspices of the Institute of Adult Education of the University of Ghana, is on the theme, “Tertiary Education and National Development”.
Prof Fobih noted that many of the policy interventions at the basic level, such as the introduction of the Capitation Grant and the school feeding programme, were aimed at ensuring that all children of school age went to school.
“As enrolment at the basic level increases, there must be corresponding expansion at the secondary and tertiary levels to be able to absorb and meet the needs of the increasing number of students,” he said.
Prof Fobih said another implication of the new educational reform was the provision of a regulatory framework to promote the participation of the private sector in the provision of tertiary education.
He said with the emergence of private tertiary institutions, the need to ensure that proper regulatory processes were put in place to safeguard public and national interest in terms of the provision of quality tertiary education had become more urgent now than before.
Prof Fobih said the older universities were expected to mentor and provide guidance for the emerging tertiary institutions to maintain the quality of education at that level.
According to him, the serious challenges of the new educational reform were funding and sustainability.
“There is the need to develop a comprehensive framework for financing tertiary education that will ensure sustainable funding to meet the ever expanding need to provide quality tertiary education. This framework should include issues such as scholarships for needy students, funds for research and incentives for innovation and creativity,” he added.
In response to a question as to whether a change in government would not result in a change in the educational policy of the present government, Prof Fobih said an Education Bill was currently before Cabinet to discuss all issues relating to the country’s educational system and that it would involve parliamentary debate and subsequent passage to serve as a framework for the country’s educational system.
The Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof Kwesi Yankah, who chaired the function, said a serious issue which needed to be addressed was the progression of HND holders from the polytechnics to the mainstream universities.
He said the issue had become topical because there was a gap between the syllabus of the polytechnics and that of the universities.
He said although some of the private universities were giving admission to HND holders, the levels to which they were admitted varied.