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Ghana: Unaccredited Courses for Sale
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Public Agenda (Accra)
9 May 2008
Posted to the web 9 May 2008
Frederick Asiamah
Fifty-three and half (53.5) percent of private tertiary institutions, which advertised in newspapers during the first quarter of 2008 were unaccredited.
Besides, of the 71 private institutions which advertised in newspapers between January and March 2008, 38 of them were found to be unaccredited.
In addition, as many as 470 (71%) out of 567 courses advertised by these institutions were found to be unaccredited; meaning only 97 of out the 567 courses had been accredited, according to the National Accreditation Board (NAB)'s Quarterly Report on Institutional Monitoring.
The new NAB Law (Act 744), makes it illegal for institutions to advertise and offer unaccredited programmes.
"When such programmes are patronized what will be the fate of these students?" asked Mr. Ben Antwi-Boasiako, Executive Secretary of the National Board for Professional and Technician Examinations (NABPTEX) after making reference to the report at a forum held in Accra on Wednesday for non-university private tertiary institutions.
NABPTEX organized the workshop to introduce itself, its mandate and its operations to the non-university private tertiary institutions. It was also to ask these institutions to affiliate themselves with NABPTEX in order to be able to situate their programmes or course contents to meet the needs of local industries, business and commerce.
Mr. Antwi-Boasiako said, "Affiliation with NABPTEX will reduce the incidence of private institutions doing 'illegal business' in education."
He pointed out that affiliation with NABPTEX was cheaper in monetary terms but very expensive as regards quality assurance. This is against the background that a lot of private institutions have fallen victim to foreign bodies that even do not have accreditation in their own countries.
"These institutions sometimes charge affiliation fees of US$10,000 and more, subject to renewal. For now, affiliation with NABPTEX costs only GHc1,000 for life."
NABPTEX was established by an Act of Parliament (Act 492 of 1994) as one of the three supervisory bodies that were set-up by the Tertiary education project during the Tertiary education reform. The other two are the NAB and the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE).
NABPTEX's objective is to formulate and administer schemes of examinations, evaluation, assessment, certification and standards with emphasis on both skill and syllabus competences for non-university tertiary institutions, professional bodies and private institutions, which are accreditation by the NAB.
Mr Antwi-Boasiako said NABPTEX is also a member of the International Association for Educational Assessment (IAEA). Thus, it is recognized worldwide and so affiliation with it will be acknowledged everywhere to the benefit of both the institution and the students.
He noted that some private institutions only prepare their students for foreign examinations even though such programmes may not suit the local environment. Apart from that, sometimes, students are not able to pay the high examination fees and so end up with no certificates.
In this regard, NABPTEX exists to assist institutions to develop programmes to meet national needs. The Executive Secretary cited last year's instance where the Board assisted the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS) to develop four programmes.
In sum, Mr Antwi-Boasiako said, "The important role that private tertiary institutions play cannot be ignored" and NABPTEX is ready to partner with them to offer good quality service to the public.
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He said the Board will help private institutions out of some of the problems they go through in seeking affiliation with institutions or bodies in meeting one of the requirements for accreditation.
Prof Marian Ewurama Addy, Chairperson, NABPTEX, noted that the Board was primarily concerned with the quality of graduates from these institutions.
She said non-university tertiary institutions have a more difficult task in ensuring that they "stress skills" in their training while ensuring that their programmes are not devoid of academic content.
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