Prof. Mike Oquaye
Members of Parliament (MPs) on Tuesday voted in favour of a legislation to establish the Ghana Communication Technology University as a public tertiary institution at its second reading, allowing the bill to move to the next stage of the parliamentary process.
After close to an hour of debate, the lawmakers voted unanimously in favour of the bill, which has 44 clauses with four sections. It will now go on to face days of line-by-line scrutiny.
The Ghana Communication Technology University Bill, 2020 is to provide a legal framework in order to position the Ghana Technology University College (GTUC) owned by Vodafone Ghana as a viable centre for higher education in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye, said the university should not simply be an addition to awarding public tertiary institutions but must provide practical training in ICT for the development of the country.
For him, this will help deal with nagging issues in the cyber space and create more solutions to technological challenges of the country.
The bill was presented to the House and read the first time on Wednesday, 11th March 2020, during which the Speaker sent it to the Committee on Education for consideration and report in accordance with Article 106 (4) and (5) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana and Order 186 of the Standing Orders of the House.
Background
The Ghana Technology University College is a technology-oriented institution of higher learning that is committed to providing an educational experience of the highest quality.
The University College was first established in 2005 with the name Ghana Telecom University College. It has its roots in the Ghana Telecom Flagship Training Centre which was the first of its kind in West Africa.
The Training Centre progressed rapidly through deregulation and privatization to become the main source of teaching and certification in telecommunications engineering for Ghana Telecom employees, as well as other institutions in Ghana and West Africa.
The Ghana Telecom University College was granted accreditation by the National Accreditation Board on 30th March 2006 and officially inaugurated on 15th August 2006.
In March 2012, the name of the University College was changed to Ghana Technology University College to reflect the transformation that had taken place and the introduction of new programmes in business and information technology.
Since then, it has provided long and short term education and training in ICT for diverse stakeholders both in Ghana and the West African sub-region.
Observation
The committee observed that GTUC, since its establishment in 2006, had been at the forefront of providing long and short term education and training in ICT albeit without the requisite legal regulatory framework governing its operations.
The Chairman of the Education Committee of Parliament, William Agyapong Quaittoo, said members noted that GTUC offers certificate, diploma and degree programmes under its three core faculties – Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Computing and Information Systems, and Faculty of Information Technology (IT) Business.
According to him, GTUC also runs a graduate school, which delivers postgraduate programmes in the areas of Engineering, Business Administration, Management and ICT.
He disclosed that the GTUC had over 8,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, and has its main campus at Tesano in Accra and other campuses in Kumasi and Takoradi, as well as learning centres in Ho, Koforidua and at Nungua in Accra.Â
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House