Govt Plans to Introduce Centralised University Admissions

By Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman

Koforidua — THE Ministry of Education (MoE) is considering introducing a Centralised University Admissions and Placement Service (CAPS) to ease the enrolment of students into all tertiary education in the country.

The initiative is to replace the current stressful and expensive system of applying to different universities in Ghana.

The Minister of State at the Ministry of Education in-charge of Tertiary Education, Prof Kwesi Yankah, disclosed this in a consultative stakeholder forum in Koforidua to deliberate on the draft proposals for the tertiary education policy document.

The event brought together 50 stakeholders in tertiary institutions to discuss and make input into the draft document.

These included 10 vice-chancellors from all the 10 public universities, representatives of private universities, principals of colleges of education, regulatory bodies, MoE, University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) of Ghana and the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ).

Prof. Yankah said exploratory visits had already been made to the UK and Nigeria by the Ministry of Education, vice-chancellors and registrars to understudy how the system works in these countries.

He noted that the policy document would produce a broad framework and a set of national imperatives within which respective university regulation will operate.

"With a centralised system, university applicants will be able to list their choices of universities on a single platform, where a central administrative and technical set- up will facilitate the process of placement," he said.

Prof Yankah noted that in mid-2018, he instituted a nine-member committee, chaired by Prof Cliff Tagoe, in consultation with stakeholders to produce a draft tertiary policy document.

He also cited a number of bills on tertiary education that had reached various stages of consideration in the legislative process.

The draft document would be submitted to the government for further consideration and approval.

Read Full Story