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Ghana Post Digital Address: GA-018-1233
GAAS-Carnegie Project
Higher Education project

Motivating Higher Education Policy Reforms in Ghana- Towards Equity and Sustainability’

In 2022, GAAS submitted an application to the Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY) for support to enhance its convening and knowledge-brokering roles to influence higher education policy effectiveness in Ghana. It received funding of USD 116,000.00 (One Hundred and Sixteen Thousand Dollars) for two years (2022-2024) to implement the project.

The proposal identified six problem areas associated with higher education in Ghana and sought to better understand the policy drivers for addressing the challenges.

  • Rapid expansion of universities and growth in intake in the last two decades without requisite expansion or growth in infrastructure, leading to significant overcrowding of teaching and learning facilities;
  • Unplanned and inadequate investment in infrastructure development;
  • Ageing faculty and inadequate staff development;
  • Poor learning outcomes because of the above, and leading to challenges with the employability of students;
  • Poor research culture and the absence of research funding and infrastructure; and
  • Increasingly weak governance at many public universities.

Specifically, the project aimed to critically examine past, present, and planned reforms in the sector; offer a platform for open and objective discussions of higher education policy and build consensus around policy recommendations that promote equity and sustainability in the sector.

Project Activities: A Multi-faceted Approach

Beyond a mapping of reforms undertaken in the HE sector since 1992, the following activities were undertaken under the project:

  1. BACKGROUND PAPERS

The project commissioned studies/background papers on:

  • access enhancement policies, including the development and growth of private universities; the conversion of polytechnics into technical universities; and increasing the number of public universities;
  • diversification of revenue sources, including cost-sharing arrangements, the establishment of the GETFUND, and the weaning off of public universities from the government budget
  • governance of universities, including the regulatory regimes in place, and the proposed Public University Bill, and
  • the capacity of public universities to initiate reforms.

Seven peer-reviewed papers were produced on the following topics and are being edited for publication:

  • The Conversion of Polytechnics to Technical Universities
  • Financing Higher Education in Ghana
  • Making the GETFUND Fit for Purpose
  • Managing Ghana’s Universities in a New Age
  • Expansion of Public Universities in Ghana
  • The State and University Relations in Ghana
  • The Development and Growth of Private Universities in Ghana
  1. POLICY DIALOGUES

In line with its convening power, the project organized seven (7) policy dialogues,  each focusing on a theme explored in the background papers, to create a common platform for academic researchers and education sector policymakers and stakeholders to engage each other in a structured way, to validate and review the findings from the studies, and to achieve consensus on the possible changes to current policies to enhance equity and sustainability.

These dialogues brought together key stakeholders, including members of the Education Committee of Parliament, representatives from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), the GETFUND, Ministry of Education officials, university leaders from both public and private HEIs, industry representatives, faculty and student representatives, civil society organizations, and the media. 

  • POLICY BRIEFS

Following the dialogues and revisions to the papers,  seven (7) policy briefs were developed summarizing the key findings and recommendations from the background papers and policy dialogues. [All GAAS Policy Briefs]

  1. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE:

As planned, a closing conference for the project was held on November 28th-29th, 2024, on the theme, “Transforming Universities for 21st Century Africa”. It was attended by participants from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and Kenya. In addition to presentations of the background papers, 12 papers were presented in parallel sessions following the announcement of a call for papers (see attachments) covering critical perspectives on  innovations in policy, governance, and funding infrastructure and research; decolonizing curricula and the integration of the sciences and humanities for knowledge production effectiveness, and the future of universities in Africa.

Major highlights of the conference included two keynote addresses and a policy roundtable. The keynote addresses were delivered by Professor Toyin Falola, the Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair, Professor of History, and Distinguished Teaching Professor at of the University of Texas at Austin, USA, and Emeritus Professor Ernest Aryeetey, University of Ghana, and former Secretary-General of ARUA, with both speakers emphasizing the role of African universities in Africa’s transformative agenda by promoting innovation, technology and research. The policy roundtable on ‘Making Universities Work for Africa’ featured regional and generational perspectives on the future of African universities with speakers from Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and the All-Africa Students’ Union (AASU).  [Conference Programme and Book of Abstracts, and videos and media coverage of the conference]

ACHIEVEMENTS AND LEARNINGS:

The project recognized an opportunity for GAAS to use its established convening power to develop a platform for evidence-gathering, information-sharing and consensus-building for HE policy reforms in Ghana to promote equity and sustainability. In the short-term it was to offer a diversity of voices in the HE space, channeled through GAAS initially; a platform for researchers and other stakeholders to engage on a regular basis and to share relevant research outputs in a comprehensible form with the aim of empowering such stakeholders in their own engagements with policy-makers. Ultimately, it is expected to develop a new culture of policy-making in the sector relying on evidence from good research from GAAS and other stakeholders

I) A major learning from the project is the dearth of scientific enquiry and scholarship on the higher education sector in Ghana, with consequences for learning and action, including on how students, faculty, administrators and university leaders are to engage with policy initiatives from government and other sources.

ii)The raft of reforms in the sector over the past few decades has not been adequately studied or tracked to understand their impact on equity and sustainability, while regulatory bodies in the sector have acquired new powers and functions, albeit without the same scrutiny or study by HE scholars and practitioners, to enhance evidence-based policy-making.

iii) Data gaps in the sector need to be plugged to enhance coherence and support evidence-based policymaking. Secondary data and documentary sources existing within universities and regulatory agencies need to be digitized and made available. In contrast, surveys and field studies need to be conducted to contextualize broad patterns.

iv) Much unfinished business remains in the HE sector, and GAAS’s role as a convenor and knowledge broker needs to be enhanced and supported by receiving new and larger grants. 

Policy Dialogue 1The conversion of the polytechnics to technical universities [Policy Briefs] [Video]
Policy Dialogue 2 Financing Higher Education in Ghana: Implications for Equity and Sustainability [Policy Briefs] [Video]
Policy Dialogue 3Making the GETFund Fit for Purpose [Policy Briefs] [Video]
Policy Dialogue 4Managing Ghana’s Public Universities in a New Age [Policy Briefs] [Video]
Policy Dialogue 5The Expansion of Public Universities in Ghana: Effects on Access, Quality, and Sustainability [Policy Briefs] [Video]
Policy Dialogue 6 Relations Between the State and Public Universities in Ghana [Policy Briefs] [Video]
Policy Dialogue 7Development and Growth of Private Universities in Ghana – Implications for Access, Equity and Sustainability [Policy Briefs] [Day 1Day 2 Videos]