The Vice Chancellor of the University of Education Winneba, Professor Mawutor Avoke, has called on University Colleges to prepare adequately and expedite actions toward achieving Presidential Charter to be autonomous.
Professor Avoke said the government had promulgated the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020, Act 1023 to censure the affiliation system.
In a speech read on his behalf at the 11th Congregation of the school held on the theme ‘Consolidating the gains of our re-organisation in Accra,’ at the week end, he said the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) was to give its unwavering support to JAYEE University College (JUC) to ensure that they become independent or autonomous.
He added that although the policy might be good news for University Colleges, the law like any other enactment, might have some inherent benefits, as well as challenges.
The Vice Chancellor noted that the primary essence of the affiliation policy was to provide mentorship and other issues of guardianship for mentee universities, and nurture them until they were weaned off as independent and self-reliant universities, capable of managing their own affairs.
He said the mentorship included preparing mentee institutions to undertake complete self- assessment, provide capacity to measure results and prescribe appropriate recommendations for all self-assessment processes.
He said the processes, procedures and protocols might be tedious and complex, but worthwhile, and should motivate university colleges to aspire to obtain a Government Charter to ensure managerial and operational independence.
Professor Avoke said the implication of the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020, Act 1023 was that Colleges were now going to lose the benefits of the hitherto affiliation policy, which included riding on the back of their mentor institutions for glory.
He said the re-organisation of JUC would be able to address all issues of corporate governance, human resource, physical infrastructure and other requisite facilities including a well-stocked library, ICT laboratory, auditorium and conference facilities among others which form part of the assessment check-list for obtaining a Presidential Charter.
The Vice Chancellor commended JUC and expressed their support for JUC in their attempt to consolidate the gains in re-organising the institution.
In his welcome address, Dr Anthony Agyiri Aikins, the President of JUC, said the transformation taking place on the tertiary education landscape, required the colleges to quickly adapt to any change situation for them to be abreast with contemporary issues.
Dr Aikins said the antidote available to university colleges to beat the competition was to be strategic by creating long-lasting competitive advantages through focusing on key priority areas to succeed.
According to him, the changing climate of the tertiary education industry, the only option available to JUC was to undergo a re-organisation exercise as an instrument of the needed transformation.
Dr Aikins said all hopes seemed to be dashed and everything was in despair, management decided to latch on to re-organise its processes through series of re-engineering efforts and with the co-operation and support of the cherished academic and non-academic staff, students and other stake holders.
According to him, the University Council has been awfully supportive and its Chairman, Professor Jophus Anamuah Mensah has been phenomenal in his approval for the prosecution of the University College’s re-organisation exercise.
In all, 325 grandaunts made up of 97 males and 228 females were presented with certificates in various fields.
FROM DANIEL AMOO
