The Management of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) has broken its silence on allegations of frustrating PhD candidates, stating it will not lower its academic standards.
This follows media reports claiming management was preventing students from the School of Public Service and Governance (SPSG) from graduating.
In a press release signed by its Rector, Professor Samuel Kwaku Bonsu, GIMPA described the reported claims as “misleading, unfair and lacking full context.”
The Institute, recognised for its commitment to academic integrity, defended its rigorous doctoral process, stating that a PhD “is not a race against time but a rigorous process of producing original, high-quality research.”
Central to the dispute is an ad hoc Committee introduced by the Academic Board to vet student papers before their public presentations.
While some SPSG doctoral students see this as managerial interference, GIMPA maintained that it is an essential quality assurance step.
“The ad hoc Committee… gives feedback to students [and supervisors] towards improvement of their work,” the release stated, characterising this peer review as a normal academic practice that has been accepted by all other Schools within the institution.
The Institute expressed that it was “quite unfortunate” that SPSG students alone perceive this as a barrier. Management confirmed it is aware of a petition submitted by the students to the Governing Council and will await its outcome.
However, GIMPA’s position remains firm. “Management… wishes to state that GIMPA cannot compromise on our academic integrity by graduating students who have not met the quality standards of a PhD programme,” the release clarified, affirming that the core quality standards have remained unchanged since the programme’s start in 2015.
The release concluded by reinforcing GIMPA’s commitment to “producing world-class doctoral graduates” and its intention to “continue to stand for rigour, integrity and relevance in research,” while also promising to provide the necessary support for deserving students to succeed.