The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, over the weekend launched an endowment fund for the Anglican University College of Technology (ANGUTECH) with a call on adherents of the Anglican faith and public-spirited individuals to contribute to the fund.
The fund, which seeks to raise a minimum of $2 million, is to support the recapitalisation of the college, and also help it meet the requirements towards chartering into a full blown university.
ANGUTECH, an institution owned by the Anglican Communion in Ghana, was established in 2008 to contribute to the country's human resource pool in the areas of science, technology and creative research.
As a university college, it operates a multi-campus which offers financially viable courses with the aim of producing graduates to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country.
Speaking at the endowment fundraising dinner as part of the launch, President Akufo-Addo said the establishment of the endowment fund would enable the growth and development of ANGUTECH, as well as support its chartering financial requirements.
He explained that the idea of establishing the endowment for the university college was conceived in 2019, however, the advent of COVID 19 meant that it could not be realised, however, it was refreshing that it was being done now.
President Akufo-Addo explained that under the new education regulatory bodies Act 2020, (Act, 1023), which saw the merger of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to form the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), new private universities were not required to be mentored by existing chartered institutions in order to be accredited.
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He, however, noted that to enable university colleges already under mentorship to attain charter, the Act made transitional arrangements for the granting of a charter for them, stressing "these institutions have been given up to the end of this year, that is 2024 to demonstrate their readiness to charter by meeting the requirements standards set by GTEC."
In addition, President Akufo-Addo said the Act specified that when a mentored institution was not able to meet the specified standards within the four-year period, but showed sufficient proof that it was prepared to charter, GTEC was mandated to give such an institution another two years to enable it obtain charter.
"The Anglican University College of Technology (ANGUTECH) I am told has already submitted a self-assessment document to GTEC and the latter, in his response has identified some weaknesses that need to be addressed," he said.
President Akufo-Addo explained that one of the difficulties that needed to be addressed by ANGUTECH in order to charter was to appoint more full time senior lecturers with the terminal degrees to boost its current academic staff, the college was facing difficulty doing so because of its inability to provide the same remuneration and conditions of service as done in some universities because of its financial challenges.
He said government appreciated the contribution private universities were making to ensure tertiary education was provided for those who would otherwise not had the opportunity because of limited spaces in public universities, especially with the introduction of the free SHS policy.
