Graduate Unemployment: GTEC to refuse re-accreditation
for programs falling short of employability
The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) will not
renew accreditation for programs that fall short of employability requirements.
Speaking on behalf of the Education Minister at the 18th
congregation of Koforidua Technical University(KTU), the Deputy Director-General
of GTEC, Dr. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai stated that “moving forward, institutions
seeking re-accreditation of their programs must demonstrate evidence of
employment of graduates of such programs informed by tracer studies before such
programs will be accredited. In fact, programs that fall short of such
requirement will not be accredited”
He emphasized that the interest of the commission in
accreditation is whether institutions are able to demonstrate employability of
their students as primary mission in seeking accreditation.
He admonished tertiary education institutions to be
guided by the 2020 to 2021 Auditor General’s report which flagged hundreds of
non-accredited programs, and adapt to GTEC’s new wind of accreditation with
alacrity.
“In simple terms, programs must be accredited or not advertised”
Dr. Ahmed Jinapor stated that, GTEC is currently working
to roll out a single platform for admission applications to all Universities in
Ghana captioned as the Central Application Processing Service (CAPS) where only
accredited institutions and programs will be allowed.
The theme of the
graduation ceremony was “Effective Technical University-Industry
Collaborations: Key to Development and Possible Job Creation in Ghana”.
A total of 1,692 HND students graduated out of which 146
obtained First Class honours. 24 graduands from Auto Engineering graduated with
“competent with merit” certificates.