By Benjamin A. Commey
Accra, July 14, GNA – Dr Martin Luther Obeng, President of the Radford University College (RUC), has reignited calls for the government to consider extending support from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to private tertiary institutions.
He said such support would enable the institutions to identify gaps within the sector and develop tailored-made programmes to improve on the human resource capacity of the country.
Dr Obeng made the appeal in an interview with the media, on the sidelines of the 8th Graduation and 12th Matriculation ceremony, of RUC in Accra, over the weekend.
The GETFund was created by Act 581 of 2000, with the primary objective of providing finance to supplement the provision of educational activities at all levels.
The sources of funding of the GETFund is 2.5 per cent value added tax (VAT) or any other higher rate as Parliament may determine; investment income; Parliament allocations; grants, donations and gifts and vested property.
In recent years, there have been calls for the government to extend the facility to private tertiary institutions, a call the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), the body tasked to, among other things, accredit and regulate tertiary institutions, has rebuffed, describing private tertiary institutions as “private business.”
Dr Obeng, however, believed that extending the facility to private tertiary institutions as a form of incentive would significantly improve their contributions to the education system.
“We really need GETFund support. If GETFund should get us a bus today we are happy…If government sees what we are doing to motivate others, they can give incentives to us (private institutions), they can give scholarships, they can give incentive to management.
“We are mentees of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) but the mentees can develop a programme and the mentors will take it up. That shows you that we are dynamic,” he added.
The graduation and matriculation ceremony was held on the theme: “Bridging the Gap between Education and Industry”.
In all, 234 students graduated with bachelor’s degree from various faculties, including Business Administration, Applied Science, Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Information Communication Technology and Medical Laboratory Technology.
Thirteen students graduated with First Class honours, 152 Second Class (Upper Division) and 69 Second Class (Lower Division).
Also, the University matriculated 270 students into various programmes for the next academic year.
Dr Obeng urged the graduates to enhance the entrepreneurial spirit the University had equipped them with to drive the development agenda of the country.
“Be bold in your ideas, innovative in your solutions and unwavering in your commitment to excellence,” he stressed.
On the 270 new students, Dr Obeng said, the figure was lower than the University anticipated, however, it was putting in strategic interventions, including embarking on outreach programmes to senior high schools, increasing advertisement and appointing recruitment officers to improve its intake next academic year.
He also disclosed that it had submitted its particulars to the GTEC for evaluation to be chartered, adding that “our application is now in the third stage of the process, pending an institutional visit by GTEC.”
This is in line with the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020 (Act 1023), which requires that all private tertiary educational institutions must obtain a charter by August 2024.
Mr Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, urged the graduates to bridge the gap between academic and industry by applying knowledge and skills acquired to address the challenges that confronted the nation.
“Today, our nation faces economic challenges, although we have opportunities for growth and development. Our nation faces debt to GDP ratio of over 80 per cent, a currency that has depreciated over 50 per cent against the US dollar over two years and unemployment rate of over 12 percent. However, we also have growing youth population, rich natural resources and strategic geographic location.
“In this context, the graduates of Radford University College must be poised to make a significant impact… I urge you to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit that Radford University College has fostered. Be courageous in your ideas, innovative in your solutions and unwavering in your commitment to excellence,” the Speaker said in a speech read on his behalf by Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle Constituency.
GNA