Minister of State in charge of tertiary education, Professor Kwesi Yankah has suggested that students who get D7 and E8 in their final exams, should be considered in University admissions.
According to him, many of Ghana's private universities risk collapsing due to the decline in admissions. He noted that the major problem is the grade-cut-off point set up by government which limits the number of students entering the University.
“We have for several years now been deluding ourselves into thinking that that below C6, that is those who get D7, E8 and so on, are not qualified to enter university. I think we should begin revising our ideas.â€
“For many private universities and public universities in general, admissions are declining… There is higher competition, there are many new universities sprouting every day of the week and so on and so forth. So for the same resources and the same pool of potential applicants, we have many many more schools,†Prof. Yankah explained.
He added that the about 75 private universities operating in Ghana have only about 20 percent of the market share which results in unused capacity and resources within the private tertiary sector.
Prof Yankah said that although there are only a few state-owned universities in Ghana, they control about 80 percent of student enrollment.
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Sharing a similar view last year was President of the Presbyterian University College, PUC, Rev. Prof Emmanuel Adow-Obeng, who suggested that WASSCE students with grade D7 and E8 in the core subjects be allowed to enter the universities through an access course programme.
He said the only option left for students with those grades was to re-sit the examination thus losing almost a year and added that it was possible for private universities to mount access courses for these students.
Rev. Adow-Obeng explained that the access programmes could be done under the supervision of the mentor universities for a specific duration and then be admitted to a full university course.