Professor Desmond Ayim-Aboagye, Ph.D. (Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences, FAS)University education is important in every country that wants to industrialize and take people out of poverty. As such every country has rules and traditions that are followed to educate their young bright minds who will be the leaders and politicians tomorrow. But, no rules and traditions are geared toward each particular country. For many years these rules and requirements have been tested, and to be workable whether it is a religious institution or public one. The governments make sure that any person who establishes a school or a tertiary education should be guided by these rules and they should not manufacture their own rules as is happening copiously in Ghanaian University Colleges.
When a university vice chancellor’s position is vacant, a search committee is selected to look for an appropriate person with the relevant degrees and qualifications to fill this vacancy. In this modern world, some companies have specialized to help with this search, so university administration that does not want to do the work can entrust this chore to them. University Vice Chancellor is given to people who have gone through a teaching career for years or a long time sometimes obtaining an Associate/Full Professorship. There are good reasons why these qualifications are given to these men with higher publication caliber. Occasionally, a person with a doctorate could be given this position especially if this person could help with the University’s advancement such as a person who has enormous fortune or has several companies that could help with funding of some projects.
But SOME university colleges in Ghana disregard this tradition which had been tried and had been seen to be workable for both religious institutions and the public institutions as well since time immemorial. Instead, one prominent member or someone who sees visions and dreams all the time well will be selected and (probably mentally deranged or sick with high blood pressure that demands that he or she takes drugs meant for mentally insane persons) will be asked to pray and fast for many days and keep himself in a room. Luckily, not even following the manner the Cardinals in Rome choose the Pope from among themselves, or the Public Institutions vote on one higher administrative member who could be a Dean or Director in an institution, the dreamer would see in a dream that one crippled man in one village was seen in the dream to be the “CHOSEN ONE”. These well-known colleges will rush to the town and bring this crippled person who probably has failed several times to obtain a degree or PhD to come and head the University College as Vice Chancellor or President. They say there are no specific rules against choosing someone you want as a caretaker.
It is like the Catholic Church theory about indulgence which used to be believed in by the Church, Dominicans, and Franciscans that state that as soon as the indulgence is paid by a believer then suddenly the dead relative could jump straight away from purgatory to everlasting life of joy bringing happiness to all.
It is also like Dr. Martin Luther’s characteristic behavior concerning the Holy Spirit, the Clergy, saying, who are you to challenge the Holy Spirit about his findings? If the Holy Spirit says the world is in the center of the Solar System, who among you Theologians or doctors can disagree and say that the Sun is the Centre of the Solar system? So the failures are managing schools while the clever ones look at them with their hands folded. In some of these schools, as soon as the Holy Spirit has chosen a person, he or she is honored with a Professorship without having gone through international peer review which is the sole requirement to award university or college professor. And it is recognized by Ghana GTEC. Since the GTEC is not doing their work but sleeping and probably drinking beer like their counterparts in other education sectors, these things will continue as a manipulated individual can gather University Board Members whom he can manipulate with money and gifts to keep quiet.
Some of these unqualified university Vice Chancellors in Private University Colleges believe that since not many of the faculty members have qualified degrees, then it is good that they are not written on the university homepage or office doors for people to see that many of them don’t have the required masters of philosophy degrees and doctorate degrees which GTEC demands. So come around and see that there is no way you will know who sits next door to you because the authorities have banned them from writing names and degrees or titles. One worker told meː “They say not many people have the degrees so I should not write them at your doors. The President has told me not to do that.” YOOOO! Mate!
Does this mean the names and qualifications sent to GTEC are false or incorrect? Are these individuals still in the University Colleges as claimed by the Vice Chancellors who are not qualified to lead because some of them don’t even have a doctorate and they have not worked or functioned as Deans of the University? Does GTEC work well to check which qualifications are being utilized to teach in these numerous mushroom colleges permission is given to operate in the country? Are people following the right regulations and traditions, which universities since immemorial times have tested and have been seen to be workable? Or is GTEC sitting idle like our politicians and allowing the university colleges to send these numerous unqualified lecturers to poison the minds of poor Ghanaian students who are paying heavily to acquire their education? A WORD TO THE WISE IS ENOUGH!
