GTEC lauds the Public Accounts Committee

Ghanaian

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been praised by Professor Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, Acting Director General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), for highlighting the problem of delays in issuing accreditation to new programmes in tertiary institutions.

Professor Abdulai acknowledged that since October 2023, when the PAC Chairman, Hon. James Klutse-Avedzi, announced the intention to meet GTEC and Vice-Chancellors

Read full articleof Universities to address the issue of delayed accreditation of new programmes, GTEC has put accreditation for new programmes on hold and implemented policies to clear the backlog.

On February 15th, Professor Abdulai appeared before the Public Accounts Committee to answer queries cited against GTEC in the Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana—Public Boards, Corporations, and Other Statutory Institutions for the period ended 31st December 2022.

During his appearance, he explained that there is too much culture of non-adherence when it comes to accreditation in the country.

According to Professor Abdulai, the Committee's decision to meet with GTEC got people thinking; previously, people thought that nothing would happen whether they had accreditation or not.

To avoid delays in accrediting new programmes, GTEC has set up an Accelerated Accreditation Committee that works alongside the normal Accreditation Office to ensure that documents are effectively verified and processed quickly.

He noted that until the Committee was set up, the Commission was accrediting an average of between 400 and 600 programmes, but now it is accrediting 1,024 in the last quarter.

Additionally, the Commission plans to launch the Accreditation Management Information System, which would enable applicants to apply digitally without visiting the Commission offices.

Furthermore, Professor Abdulai informed the Committee that the Commission is planning to decentralize the accreditation process by opening two new offices in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region and Tamale in the Northern Region.

He also warned that students who study programmes that have not been duly accredited by the Commission would not be allowed to do their National Service, and those with certificates of unaccredited programmes would not be employed.

Schools that appeared before the Committee include C.K Tedan University of Technology and Applied Science, S.D. Dombo University of Business and Integrated Studies, University for Development Studies, GIMPA, University of Energy and Natural Resources, and Ghana National Service Scheme.