The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) has strongly opposed a proposed policy by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (Ghana Tertiary Education Commission) aimed at harmonising promotion guidelines for academic senior members across public universities.
In a letter routed to the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, through the UTAG National Secretariat, the KNUST branch questioned both the timing and justification of the reform, insisting it was introduced without adequate consultation with key stakeholders in the tertiary education sector.
UTAG-KNUST argued that GTEC’s claim of inconsistencies in promotion standards across universities was “unconvincing and insufficiently grounded,” adding that such variations reflect deliberate institutional design rather than administrative flaws requiring uniform correction.
The association further challenged the narrow focus of the proposed harmonisation, asking why only academic staff promotions were being targeted when other categories of university personnel also operate under differing conditions.
“We respectfully ask whether academic staff are the only category of university personnel for whom disparities exist?” the association stated, stressing that Ghana’s public universities were established with distinct mandates, governance systems and academic cultures that must be preserved.
It warned that enforcing a single promotion framework across institutions could weaken university autonomy and erode the unique academic identities that define individual universities.
UTAG-KNUST also urged GTEC to shift attention from promotion harmonisation to what it described as more pressing structural challenges within the tertiary education sector, including overcrowded student-to-teacher ratios, inadequate laboratory facilities, staffing shortages and broader teaching and learning constraints.
The association further called for a comprehensive review of Ghana’s higher education structure, particularly the “tiering” of universities, arguing that such an approach would yield more meaningful reforms than what it described as “peripheral interventions” focused solely on promotion criteria.
It specifically pointed to challenges at under-resourced institutions such as the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (University of Environment and Sustainable Development), urging regulators to prioritise capacity-building and infrastructure development across the sector.
UTAG-KNUST concluded that its members would be unwilling to cooperate with management in implementing the proposed framework unless wider disparities—especially in staffing and infrastructure—are addressed.
It maintained that existing governance structures already provide sufficient autonomy to university authorities, insisting that the current system “is not broken and therefore does not require this form of intervention.”
