Professor Matthew Glover Addo, the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Catholic University of Ghana (CUG) in the Bono Region at the weekend says unattractive conditions of service threaten the future successes of private universities in the country.
He said since the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure and the payment of research allowances to the faculties of the public institutions, private institutions had become more challenged in their attempt to recruit and maintain the requisite staff.
Prof. Addo raised the concerns at a ceremony to officially induct him into office as the VC held at the University’s main campus at Fiapre in the Sunyani West Municipality of the region, saying, poor condition of service of many private universities had led to high staff attrition rates in those institutions.
The VC expressed concern about administrative and leadership challenges of the CUG including weak financial health, lack of functional Endowment Fund, stiff and ferocious academic competition from both public and private universities in CUG’s catchment area as well as low research output impeding the holistic growth and development of the university.
Prof. Addo said challenges like lack of modern infrastructure including libraries and ICT facilities, lecture rooms, teaching and learning materials like modern text books, skills lab, workshops and student accommodation, inadequate staff resulting in large class sizes with high student-teacher ratio as well as poor campus road network and funding gaps ought to be tackled.
“These problems become even more aggravated as private Universities do not enjoy any government support in the form of subvention,” he stated.
Prof Addo said that: this is making management of our private universities very difficult, requiring good governance and leadership, well established administrative structures, creativity, and innovation and for CUG a team that understands to a larger extent, the dynamics of the current educational terrain”.
Despite those challenges, he said considerable progress had been made towards the achievement of the institution’s mandate, saying since the CUG received the Presidential Charter, it had become more relevant and significant in educational pedagogies and quality assurance to meet GTEC requirements.
The Most Reverend Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum, later took the VC through the oaths of office and secrecy, and asked the university community, its dedicated staff, and workers to unite in support of Prof Addo to bring the development of the institution to the next level.
“We are confident that under your leadership, the CUG will continue to excel academically, uphold stronger principles and maintain its relevance to society,” the catholic priest stated, saying the advancement of the university depended not only on a single individual but on the harmonious collaboration of all.
Prof. Daniels Obeng-Ofori, the immediate past VC of the CUG, urged the new VC to spearhead collaborative, instead of authoritative leadership, asking him to embrace and value the diverse contributions of staff to advance the development of the university.
The CUG was established by the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference with the vision to create a unique University to make a distinctive contribution to national development.
It began with just 50 students and three programmes, however 22 years down the line, CUG’s student population has grown to over 7451.
GNA
