Reacting to a 2021 Auditor General’s report that stated that 32 programmes were not accredited in 2021, KsTU explained that, 16 of them have since been accredited as of now.

The other 16 programmes were, however, at various stages of the accreditation process.

In a rejoinder to a report filed by Graphic Online from the Public Accounts Committee sitting where the issue of accreditation came up, Mr Joshua Appiah, the Acting University Relations Officer, wrote: “Management of the university states that the headline is misleading since it does not reflect the current situation of accreditation at the university as indicated in the content of the article.

“KsTU wants to assure its students, potential students, and the general public that its programmes are being run upon the highest standards required by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET),” the university added.

At the Public Accounts Committee sitting

When the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament began its sitting in Sunyani in the Bono Region last Monday [Sept 4, 2023] to consider the 2021 Auditor General’s Report referred to the committee, the issue of the accreditation came up.

The PAC said institutions running unaccredited programmes was an issue that affected students negatively when they later applied to pursue higher programmes at other universities.

It, therefore, urged the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to consider implementing automatic renewals for ongoing programmes, and to speed up their entire processes.

It also charged the commission to embark on regular monitoring to find out how accreditation was implemented in the universities to avoid setbacks for students.

Unacceptable

A member of the committee, Akwasi Konadu, said it was unacceptable for universities to run programmes without accreditation.

He explained that the situation would tarnish the image and credibility of the universities and the acceptability of the certificates that are awarded.

However, responding to the committee, the management of the KsTU said the university was doing everything possible to get the 32 programmes accredited, explaining that currently, 16 of them had been accredited, while the other 16 were at various stages of the accreditation process.

The management explained that, the accreditation process could take between six months and one year.

An accredited programme takes three to five years to expire, depending on the type.

Invitation

The Chairman of the PAC, Dr James Klutse Avedzi, said the committee would invite the GTEC and the universities to find a solution to problems related to the delay in renewing or granting accreditation.

“There is the need to bring the two bodies together to look at where the problem is and how we can address it, so we don’t examine students on courses and programmes that don’t have accreditation,” he said.

Dr Avedzi said the issue of running unaccredited programmes at the universities was not limited to the KsTU, but that it was a common phenomenon across the traditional universities in the country.

He said both the universities and GTEC were partly to blame for the delay in the granting of accreditation to the programmes being run by the institutions.

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They include five Master of Technology programmes, nine Bachelor of Technology programmes, 17 Higher National Diploma (HND) programmes and one Diploma programme.

In addition, the report captured 29 of the university’s programmes that expired between 2009 and 2018.  

These came to light when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament began its sitting in Sunyani in the Bono Region last Monday to consider the 2021 Auditor General’s Report referred to the committee.

The PAC said institutions running unaccredited programmes was an issue that affected students negatively when they later applied to pursue higher programmes at other universities.

It, therefore, urged the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to consider implementing automatic renewals for ongoing programmes, and to speed up their entire processes.

It also charged the Commission to embark on regular monitoring to find out how accreditation was implemented in the universities to avoid setbacks for students.

Unacceptable

A member of the Committee, Akwasi Konadu, said it was unacceptable for universities to run programmes without accreditation.

He explained that, the situation would tarnish the image and credibility of the universities and the acceptability of the certificates that are awarded.

However, responding to the committee, management of the KsTU said the university was doing everything possible to get the 32 programmes accredited, explaining that currently, 16 of them had been accredited, while the other 16 programmes were at various stages of the accreditation process.

The management explained that the accreditation process could take between six months and one year.

An accredited programme took three to five years to expire depending on the type of programme.

Invitation

The Chairman of the PAC, Dr James Klutse Avedzi, said the committee would invite the GTEC and the universities to find a solution to problems related to the delay in renewing or granting accreditation.

“There is the need to bring the two bodies together to look at where the problem is and how we can address it, so we don’t examine students on courses and programmes that don’t have accreditation,” he said.

Dr Avedzi said the issue of running unaccredited programmes at the universities was not limited to the KsTU, but that it was a common phenomenon across the traditional universities in the country.

He said both the universities and GTEC were partly to be blamed for the delay in the granting of accreditation to the programmes being run by the institutions.

Refer case

The committee also referred the Sefwi Wiawso College of Education in the Western North Region to the Attorney-General (A-G) for investigation towards prosecution.

Dr Avedzi said the institution, led by its Principal, Dr Emmanuel Cersamar, had breached procurement laws as flagged by the 2021 Auditor-General’s Report.

He said the college used GH¢276,807.22 to procure goods and services for the college without going through procurement processes.

Dr Avedzi said the institution also procured the goods and services without seeking alternative quotation in violation of the relevant law.

He explained that the auditors had recommended that for not adhering to the relevant provisions of the Procurement Act, heads of the institutions should be sanctioned.

Hearing

The PAC sitting in Sunyani, which started last Monday, is expected to end on Friday, September 8, 2023.

It is considering the report of the Auditor General on technical universities, colleges of education, second cycle institutions, and assemblies in the Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Ashanti and Western North regions, covering the period ended December 31, 2021.

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Speaking on Joy FM’s Middaynews on Wednesday, he described the situation as ‘disappointing.”

This comes after the Auditor–General’s report in 2022 revealed a number of unaccredited programmes offered by the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and recommended that management of the universities expedite action for accreditation and re-accreditation of all new and expired academic programmes respectively.

However, the universities are still running some unaccredited programmes as of today.

As a result, Prof Abdulai Jinapor says GTEC will publish all centres and unaccredited programmes to caution the public from sourcing such programmes.

He added that by law, GTEC is supposed to publish those that are accredited but, they are taking the new directive by publishing unaccredited courses.

“Starting from this week to next week, we are going to start publishing all centres, and programmes that are run by various institutions that are unaccredited,” the Deputy Director of GTEC said.

According to him, GTEC will crack the whip because running unaccredited courses is an offence, and managers of the institutions are fully aware of this.

Responding to questions on why some programmes are still not accredited by UG and KNUST, Mr Abdulai Jinapor said the problem has to do with the mindset and understanding of what accreditation is.

According to him, the fact that the universities may have applied for accreditation does not give them the go-ahead to advertise courses and programmes that are not accredited, adding that the courses do not always get accredited though universities may have applied for accreditation.

He further explained that the excuse to run unaccredited programmes just because the programme may have expired when the student is in the third or fourth year does not hold.

He noted this because “the letter that gives accreditation is emphatic and unequivocal that you must start the accreditation process one year ahead of time. So, there is no way that a programme should expire the period that is being run.”

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