Must We Leave All To Competition: University Admissions In Ghana?

I should like to commence this article by asking this pertinent question: should the university admissions in Ghana, especially the yearly freshman intake, be left all to competition among universities without resulting to negotiations in order to fix the manner this intake could be regulated? And would this, as a result, enhance quality education in Ghana? Must every university in the country, especially the public ones, admit as many students as it can even though it has no adequate resources in the area of competent lecturers to teach them? Isn’t it a good idea to admit only those students which the university is prepared to have the right resources and good lecturer-students ratio to have and train? If such a plan is deem necessary, would the vice chancellors of both the public universities and the private universities agree to meet to find a suitable way whereby the yearly intake could be done in an appropriate manner in order not to jeopardize the quality education Ghanaians have enjoyed since time in memorial?

To me the vice chancellors have a great responsibility to negotiate as a whole the proper methods whereby the students could be chosen and trained by both private and public universities alike, taking into consideration that one university admitting more than necessary is not a good practice. This is not good for Ghana. It could affect the nation's citizens in their quest to become competitive in the world. It could affect their self-esteems as well, as they seek to be on top of the world in their academic careers.

Recent information that came out in rumors was the fear that the private universities are becoming popular all the more and also attracting students from the public ones so that the public universities should intensify their adverts in order to counteract this unwanted trend. This is the cause for unnecessary expansions of late in the latter universities and the tearing down of adverts made by the private universities by some unknown groups. But this notion may be half truth as the private universities; it seems to me, are scoring good marks concerning the student-lecturer ratio such that now they are turning out better graduates than the public ones. The accusation often made is becoming alarming when my colleagues in the latter universities do not even see anything wrong and make assertions such as "which Ghanaian university cares about quality education anyway?"

The vice chancellors (both Public Universities and Private Universities) must see this current trend as something that demands their careful attention in their discussions. Moreover, they should ponder on to what extent the influx of students into these universities are affecting lecturer-student ratio and why the public universities, especially, are the ones disregarding this essential warnings.

Probably, an example taken from elsewhere in abroad concerning how freshman intake are carried out could illuminate on how these vice chancellors (Public and Private) could solve this problem amicably concerning the over all inflow of more students going to one particular universities at the expense of others in order to gain education which also serves as detriment to quality education. The problem concerning student-lecturer ratio is enormous such that they must be addressed at once and effectively as soon as possible.

Now, supposing the government of a particular country Ü is to decide that the grades requirement for all university education in the country is to be aggregates up to 37, then universities A, B, C and D could decide to state categorically what they would use as their criteria for accepting students into their universities adhering strictly to this particular rule.

Then, for example, university A could decide that it accepts among a variety of other factors aggregates up to 8 from all students it wants to admit. University B, on the other hand, could decide to say among a variety of factors it accepts aggregates up 15 and not more than that into its university. Another university called C could also decide among a variety of factors that it accepts only students with aggregates up to 20. Then another university D could then decide that among a variety of factors it accepts students with aggregates up to 37. Now, if the university chancellors stick to their choice of relevant aggregates (acting within the confines of law) which include other factors, then no students could attack them on grounds of discrimination or tribalism. This strategy is to be adopted so that students and universities are given the opportunity to choose which university they prefer to attend and, concerning these universities, what category of students they prefer to have in their universities in order to train them. This is what could drive universities to move away from DESTRUCTIVE COMPETITION in order to employ NEGOTIATIONS as the latter will bring fairness into the arena of university admissions so that students will be accepted in a smooth way into the various universities not at the expense of other thriving institutions.

I shall still insist that the number of freshmen to be admitted into the various universities around yearly in the country should be approximately 2,500 per university, the number which conforms to international standard. Later, there could be some more students (MATURE STUDENTS) who may be admitted during the evening and weekend streams in the various distance education around in the country.

Professor Desmond Ayim-Aboagye

(DEAN OF FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES)

Regent University College of Science and Technology

P. O. Box DS 1636
Dansoman - Accra
Website: www.regent.edu.gh