Committee for NCTE, NAB Merger Hopeful of Implementation

The Committee seeing to the merger of the National Accreditation Board (NAB) and the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) has completed its work.

In 2017, the Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, announced plans by government to merge the two bodies as part major policy changes in the tertiary education system.

The move is also to limit the many bureaucratic procedures in their operations.

Speaking to Citi News, the spokesperson of the Committee, Professor Jonathan Nar Ayertey, said the committee was hopeful that the recommendations made will be implemented.

“Our recommendation is that the two bodies should be merged. As part of our work we had interactions with a large number of people… our conclusions are based not on what NAB wants or the NCTE wants but listening to all the presentations. Our view is that they would operate better if they were put together under one unit. They will still carry out their individual assignments but this time, there would be one organization that will superintend over all of them, Prof Ayertey stated.

This new regulatory body is expected to be known as the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), which will be headed by a director-general, with three deputies, each of whom will be assigned clear-cut roles.

The Committee is chaired by a former Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Prof. Jerome Djangmah, and it has Prof. J.N. Ayertey, Mr. Kwesi Eshun, Mrs Lucy Brimpong Ayeh and Ms Ecclis Andoh as other members.

Mandate of the NCTE and NAB

The NCTE was established in 1993, to among others advise the Education Minister on the development of tertiary institutions in Ghana.

It also recommends national standards and norms, including standards and norms on staff, costs, accommodation and time utilization for the approval of the Minister.

Additionally, the Council is required to monitor the implementation of any approved national standards and norms by the institutions, and to advise the Minister generally on rates of remuneration and other conditions of service of staff  members of the institutions.

The NAB, on the other hand, was established under the National Accreditation Board Act 2007, Act 744, as the government’s agency responsible for the regulation, supervision and accreditation of tertiary institutions in the country.

It also advises the President on the granting of charter to private tertiary institutions.