Lift ban on recruitment of academic staff - UTAG

The University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (UTAG) has called on government to lift the ban on recruitment and replacement of academic staff in the universities.

In a communiqué issued after their 17th National Biennial Congress at the University of Ghana, on the theme ‘Graduate Unemployment: A Failure of Tertiary Education’, UTAG said tertiary education was not wholly to be blamed for the current graduate unemployment situation in the country.

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ernest Aryeetey at the November 2015 congregation of the University of Ghana a fortnight ago has revealed that the University of Ghana has put a temporary freeze on the recruitment of new staff.

According to Professor Aryeetey, the freeze was because the institution has not received clearance from government to make new appointments.

"Management has been forced to put a temporary freeze on all employment until such time that the University of Ghana receives financial clearance from government on the appointment of staff."

But UTAG believes the lift would enable them to cope with the increasing enrolment of students in the universities and also enhance the quality of teaching and learning.

The communiqué stated that institutions have over the years revised their curriculum to reflect new thinking based on research and the development needs of the country, adding that they have even expanded their programmes to reflect changing trends in the industry.

"Training of personnel to perform specific job functions is not part of the mandate of tertiary institutions, but is rather the obligation of industry --- a job which many corporate organisations will want to shirk," it stated.