Over 600 academic programmes at the two top tertiary institutions in Ghana, University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) are unrecognized by the accreditation authority, National Accreditation Board (NAB).
According to the Auditor-General’s report for 2021, the tertiary institutions “accreditation expired or requires re-accreditation during the period under review.”
Whilst at the University of Ghana, the report revealed that 374 academic programmes are unaccredited, 299 programmes at KNUST were also not accredited.
At the University of Ghana, out of the 374 courses not accredited, 14 were Diploma programmes, 80 were Undergraduate courses, 213 were Post-Graduate courses, and 67 were PhD courses.
The Auditor-General’s report, noted that the school management had responded to its recommendations.
At KNUST, out of the 360 programmes run by the University, only 61 were accredited, 190 were sent to National Accreditation Board (NAB) for accreditation and re-accreditation with 109 yet to be sent to NAB for accreditation.
The Auditor-General recommended that the Management of the University should “expedite action for accreditation and re-accreditation of all new and expired academic programmes respectively.”
KNUST was also asked to “liaise with Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to take retrospective accreditations to cover all the non-accredited certificates issued to students.”
The Auditor-General recommended that the school should stop running programmes that were not accredited to avoid sanctions by NAB.
By Vincent Kubi