Speech Delivered by Professor Mahama Duwiejua, Executive Secretary, National Council for Tertiary Education at a Sympsium Organsied by the Baraka Policy Institute, at the British Council on  Access and Relevance of Tertiary Education in the Context of National Development on Saturday, January 31, 2015.

1. OPENING

Mr Chairman,

In the last decade, there has been an explosion in demand for tertiary education, particularly university education but access is still limited.  For example, in the 2013/14 academic year, of the 78,618 applicants to the University of Ghana, 68.4% qualified to be admitted.  The University was able to offer admission to only 38% of the qualified candidates.  Finally, — % of those offered admission reported.   In the same year, 57,277 candidates applied to the KNUST.  Out of that number, 69% qualified to be admitted.  The University offered admission to 60% of the qualified applicants. Finally 15,052 (63.9%) of those offered admission actually registered. What this says is that out of cohort of 57,277  SHS students wishing to enter the KNUST only 26% have a chance of being admitted in that university.

So where are the rest?

Article 25 (1)c of our constitution states:

“higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education”

The right of access to higher education is mentioned in a number of international human rights instruments. The UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 declares, it Article 13.

Ladies and gentlemen, “The importance of higher education, especially for African countries, cannot be overemphasized. Indeed, in its 1997 report on the state of Education in Africa, UNESCO (1997) describes higher education as being to the education system what the head is to the body.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Ghana shared growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) aims at  “transforming the economy through industrialization, especially manufacturing, based on modernized agriculture and sustainable exploitation of the country’s natural resources”

.This is the way to create wealth.   – This noble aspiration will remain an intention on paper if we do not have the critical mass of trained people (mostly from higher education institutions) with appropriate knowledge and skills to transform the economy.  These are the people who can lead the technological transformation and economic development.  We cannot develop economically by depending on sale of raw cocoa beans, timber, minerals and now oil – knowledge drives economic growth.

Countries that have invested in their scientific and technological capabilities (usually developed at universities) have reaped great benefits in industrial growth.  These are the wealthy nations.

Mr Chairman, I dare say these countries did not invest in higher education because they are rich.  They are rich because they invested in intellectual development. Access to education and for that matter, access to tertiary education should therefore never be viewed luxury – our very survival as humans capable of adapting to emerging challenges and ability to compete globally depends on it.

A country that fails to develop its people intellectually is opting out of the development race. I add that such countries leave themselves at the mercies of countries that care to invest in intellectual development of their people – these are the countries that have built intellectual capital. These are the countries with developed economies.  They are the countries with social cohesion, and they are the countries with stable political systems.

I therefore congratulate the Baraka Policy Institute for initiating this discussion on access to education.

2.  SCOPE

Mr Chairman, distinguished guests, I will proceed with this presentation with these questions in mind:

• What is the current state of access and implications of current state of access for national development?
• What are the barriers to access/
• What are we doing to ensure we meet the constitutional obligation of making Higher education equally accessible to all Ghanaians, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education
• Can the Baraka Policy Institute play a role in improving access and inclusion?

What is Tertiary education?

Tertiary education is simply post-secondary education. Notable examples in the formal sector in this country include: nursing training colleges (–), colleges of education (38 public), agricultural training colleges (  ), polytechnics (10) and universities (public 10) and over 60 accredited private tertiary institutions.  I will not distinguish between tertiary education and higher education.  The two terms have therefore been used interchangeably in this presentation.

Post-secondary education in a broader sense should include Vocational and technical education.  This is receiving massive support under the Council for Technical, Vocational education and Training (COTVET). This is an extremely important sector with very interesting developments. I mention it here to raise awareness but will not discuss it. I suggest the BPI creates a separate forum for it so as not to dilute their contribution to national development.

Access to tertiary education

MR CHAIRMAN, access to tertiary education in Ghana, as measured by the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER), is about 12%. This translates to a total enrollment figure ranging between 280,000 and 300,000.  Trow (2000) coined the terms elite, mass and universal higher education, with elite representing a national enrollment ratio of up to 15%, mass representing a ratio of up to 50%, and universal a ratio in excess of 50%.  According to this classification, access to Teriary education is still elitist.  This figure is certainly too low for our status as a middle income country. If we are to move beyond our lower middle-income status we have to double the enrolment figures to be able to produce the skilled-manpower needs of the country.

The problem is therefore not lack of qualified candidates.  Infact the problem may be worse 10 years from now if nothing is done. GES reports in 2014 indicate that we have close to 4m children in primary school.  If 2m of these proceed to senior high school, we will have a problem on our hands on how to provide post-secondary education in the next 10 years.  Fortunately, arrangements are in place in anticipation of this explosion in demand for tertiary education. Access per se in terms of total enrolment figures does not tell the whole story.  Important components of access like – equity, relevance and quality.

Equity.

Mr Chairman, the statement that “higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity….” means  irrespective of age, ethnicity, religion, social status and sex.  As a policy we aim at achieving a 50:50 ratio for male and female enrollment into tertiary education institutions.  Unfortunately, the ratio is 30% female and 60% male. A lot more needs to be done to improve female enrollment. Within the 30% enrolled, females are grossly under-represented in the physical sciences and engineering.  Gender inequality in tertiary education persists because of social barriers.

We must be equally concerned about other socially disadvantaged groups like physically challenged, economically disadvantaged and applicants from less-endowed schools which are mostly located in rural areas with poor facilities.  We must ensure inclusion because acquisition of tertiary education besides the common good has direct benefits at the individual and family level. Evidence abounds that the average person with tertiary education has:

• higher salaries,
• better employment opportunities,
• increased savings, and
• upward social mobility
• A tertiary education graduate also obtains non-economic benefits including, a better quality of life, improved health, and greater opportunities for the future.

It is therefore a matter of social justice that every individual must be given equal opportunity to access tertiary education, irrespective of income and other social barriers including gender, ethnicity, and language.  A talented but low-income student or female who is denied entry into tertiary education represents a loss of human capital for society.  Disparities in tertiary education opportunities must be eliminated.

Relevance

Mr Chairman, . Higher education is provided at a high cost to tax payer.  It must therefore be appropriate to serve society and the individual?  We have seen demonstrations of unemployed graduates, while industry and particularly complain of lack of graduates with employable skills.  There has been a needless debate about what these skills are. The argument is simply that in addition to learning the core subjects, we must infuse in students 1) learning and innovative skills (creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration), 2) Information, media and technology skills (information literacy, media literacy and ICT literacy) and 3) Life and career skills.  This calls for an overhaul of the curriculum.

WHAT ARE THE BARRIERS TO ACCESS TO TERTIARY EDUCATION?

There are both monetary and non-monetary barriers to entry into tertiary education. Three monetary barriers to tertiary education are the cost-benefit barrier, the cash-constraint or liquidity barrier, and the internalized liquidity constraint or the debt aversion barrier. The cost-benefit barrier occurs when an individual decides that the costs of attending university (including tuition and living expenses as well as opportunity costs of not working during the duration of the course) outweigh the returns to their education. Liquidity barriers refer to a student’s inability to gather the necessary resources to pursue tertiary education after having decided that the benefits do outweigh the costs. And, the debt aversion constraint occurs when a student values the benefits of tertiary education over its costs, can borrow or has access to sufficient financial resources, but, regardless of these factors, chooses not to matriculate because the financial resources available to him/her include loans. All three of these monetary barriers contribute to rising inequity in tertiary education participation. Non-monetary reasons considered as important factors in explaining poor participation of low-income individuals in tertiary education are : Academic ability, information access, motivation, inflexibility of university admission processes,  family environment and others forms of cultural capital are some of the factors

POLICY INITIATIVES TO ADDRESS THE BARRIERS

Presence of these barriers has policy implications.  Policy initiatives have been developed to protect the integrity of the system and improve access to education for socially and economically disadvantaged students.  Similarly, policy frameworks are available to encourage institutional diversity and alternative funding mechanisms. I will explain further how some these policy initiatives address the barriers to access.

     Inflexible entry requirements

Minimum entry requirements have been established for both degree and diploma programmes. For admission into polytechnics, applicants who have passed the core subjects but failed in one elective have been given the opportunity to take an access course supervised by the National Board for Professional and Technician Examinations (NABPTEX).  An application has been received from Colleges of Education for this to be extended to them for science programmes.  The request is being studied by a committee at the NCTE.

A bigger problem we have to deal with is how to reduce the pressure on demand for university education.  The recent policy of converting polytechnics to technical universities is an attempt to make technical and vocational education more attractive.  we hope by this we shall provide a more diversified and attractive options for tertiary education

      Equity

Gender sensitive admission policies exist in all public universities for disciplines in which females are under-represented.  These include engineering and the physical sciences. Universities also have policies in place for applicants from schools classified as less-endowed. For those who are economically disadvantaged, the students’ loan trust fund has now introduced what they call a means test to advance loans according to the needs of applicants.  The amount ranges between GHC800 and GHC1800 per annum.

      Relevance

The Minister of education only last year organised a consultative meeting between industry leaders and academia on the theme “bridging the gap between industry and academia”. It behoves on regulatory bodies like the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and National Accreditation Board (NAB) to ensure these in public institutions and

     Financial

The NCTE is submitting new proposals to the Minister of education on funding of tertiary education. While it is commendable to increase access we must plan for the required support for infrastructure and human resource development.

 Where does the Baraka Policy Institute fit in this?

Non-financial barriers

Financial barriers

Advocacy – targeted education on career guidance, etc