Prof Samuel Afranie
PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES in the country need tighter regulations to make them strong, robust and competitive in order to increase their current market shares, Prof Samuel K. Afranie, President of Christian Service University College (CSUC), has said.
He has therefore called on the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to come up with a legislation reform that will make private tertiary institutions sustainable and problem-solving institutions in the country.
Addressing the 42nd congregation of the university college at the weekend, Prof. Afranie indicated that recent records showed that private tertiary institutions were doing poorly in respect of student enrollment, pointing out that the sector partly managed to garner 24 per cent of the market share between 2013 and 2014.
This figure, he said, dropped to 14 per cent this year, and added that the development created serious financial challenges for the private universities.
To overcome the challenges, Prof Afranie said the CSUC established a research centre for business development which ran workshops and consultancy programmes for the general public.
Executive Secretary of the National Board for Professional and Technician Examination, Sheila Naa-Boamah, expressed concern about the difficult situation facing private tertiary institutions.
She called on stakeholders to help in building strong and sustainable private universities since they complement the efforts of government to develop the country’s human resource.
She also charged managements of the various private tertiary institutions to rise up to the challenges in the sector, which include lack of adequate facility to support effective teaching and learning, inability to attract and retain high-skilled staff, difficult and high cost of mobilizing funding, weak capacity of some faculty, and over concentration on business and art programmes.
Mrs. Naa-Boamah said some of the private tertiary institutions also have weak controls in the governance and academic areas, urging managers to address these challenges in order to improve their market share of 20 per cent.
In all, 424 students graduated in various disciplines. The graduands were entreated to uphold good attitude in order to fit into the job market.
From Ernest Kofi Adu, Kumasi