Stop Misrepresentations About Technical Universities

The National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) has said the misguided media discussions on the conversion of polytechnics into Technical Universities must cease.

A statement signed by the Management of the NCTE, and copied to the Ghana News Agency said: "It is understandable that these may have been largely inspired by anxiety about the future of polytechnics that were not in the first list.”

It said several misrepresentations about the processes continued to be thrown into the otherwise useful discourse.

It, however, assured the public and the affected polytechnics that the NTCE remained committed to the principles and it would endeavor to preserve the integrity of the process of conversion.

It, therefore, urged the stakeholders to ensure that calm returned to the campuses to enable normal academic and administrative work to resume without let or hindrance.

The statement explained that at the instance of the Ministry of Education, the NCTE took steps to engage directly with the affected polytechnics and had given the assurance that the policy objective to eventually convert all polytechnics into Technical Universities had not changed.

It said the process of conversion needed to be properly controlled and rolled out in phases for effectiveness, given that the institutions were not at the same level in terms of critical infrastructure and resources.

The statement noted that polytechnics that did not make it in the first batch of conversion would receive priority attention from the NCTE.

Cape Coast and Tamale Polytechnics, the statement said, had already applied for reassessment based on the reported progress made since the last exercise, it said, adding that the NCTE would endeavor to handle their requests expeditiously.