Don’t panic, we determine effective date of accreditation – GTEC allays fear of graduates after A-G report

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has allayed fears of stakeholders regarding the accreditation of some programmes in tertiary institutions.

Deputy Director-General of the Commission, Dr. Ahmed Jinapor, insists that there is no cause for alarm for students and guardians who read any of the programmes which have had their accreditation expired.

This follows revelations in the Auditor General’s report that hundreds of programmes offered in some tertiary institutions across the country are unaccredited.

It indicated that out of 360 programmes run by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), only 61 are accredited while the University of Ghana also had 374 of its programmes unaccredited.

The Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020 indicates that no tertiary education institutions shall “operate or run a programme without accreditation by the Board.” Speaking on JoyNews‘ Newsfile, Dr. Ahmed Jinapor, explained that the laws grant the Commission the mandate to determine the effective date of accreditations.

For that matter, he called on all interested parties to rest assured that all complications in the matter will be resolved with the help of the institutions.

Meanwhile, authorities of the two universities have blamed administrative lapses on the part of GTEC for the unaccredited status of some of the programmes they offer.

University of Ghana’s Pro-Vice Chancellor in charge of Academic and Students Affairs, Prof Gordon Awandare admitted that indeed some of the courses are faced with this challenge, explaining that it was a result of the bureaucratic nature of the process.

However, the institution is currently working to ensure that they are renewed in the books of the Ghana Tertiary Commission, he said on the same show.