Cape Coast, Nov 21, GNA – The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, on Thursday said the government had acknowledged that the enhancement of post-graduate programmes in the country would help stem the brain drain crisis.
He said the problem of ageing lecturers still working at the country’s universities could be solved if more young graduates were trained to join the teaching staff in those institutions instead of their pursuing courses abroad.
The Vice President said these in an address read for him at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Graduates Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG) at the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
Alhaji Mahama stated that government was determined to ensure that the universities were encouraged to expand their post-graduate programmes by designing and introducing new ones that are demand driven and market oriented.
Therefore, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports had made the upgrading of lecture halls, libraries and laboratories the priority in the utilisation of the GETFund monies allocated to the tertiary institutions, he said.
Alhaji Mahama said the Ministry was considering requests by tertiary institutions for higher grants and bursaries for developing these facilities and enhancing research work.
He urged the academic boards of the universities to introduce newer approaches to teaching that would make graduates to establish their own enterprises and consultancy services.
Alhaji Mahama said: “Post graduate education has to be seen as crucial and an integral part of the universities and should therefore be given the requisite support and growth.”
He said the link between industry and the universities had also been weak and called for closer ties between the two entities to enable industry utilise the many research, reports and other findings by the universities which have been on the shelves for so long.
Professor Naana Opoku Agyemang, Dean of graduate studies of the UCC, suggested that a percentage of the GETFund be put aside to support post-graduate studies.
The National President of GRASAG, Nana Owusu Banahene, noted that the bill on the funding of tertiary education, currently before parliament, would not be in the interest of graduates since it would limit access to graduate education.
Source: GhanaWeb
