Vice President (left) and Otumfuo Osei Tutu II congratulate Mr Derrick Folson, a physically challenged graduant, for obtaining a Master of Science degree in Mathematics. Photo: Godwin Ofosu Acheampong
Loading
22nd June, 2009
Govt Reviews Scholarships For Students Abroad
THE government is reviewing some scholarships awarded for studies abroad as part of measures to rationalise the use of resources, says the Vice President, John Dramani Mahama.
He pointed out that scholarships funded by the state would, therefore, be available only for critical courses not offered locally or for training more lecturers to increase the academic staff of the country’s universities and polytechnics.
The Vice-President said it was for the state to finance student study abroad for courses that were critical for national development but which were not locally offered in institutions of higher learning.
Mr Mahama was speaking at the 43rd Congregation of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on Saturday.
The ceremony at which nearly 900 students from the School of Graduate Studies, Business and the Law faculty graduated, was dedicated to the Chancellor of the University, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of his ascension to the Golden Stool.
“It is in pursuance of these ideals that the on-going debate on our educational system, precisely the second cycle level, is being encouraged to enable us to reach a national consensus on the educational needs of the nation,” he indicated.
The Vice-President touched on the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and said government intended to decentralise its administration to improve on prioritisation of the fund as well as reviewing the funding sources of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) in order to restore the 15 per cent portion of GETFund which is currently appropriated for that programme.
He regretted that though the GETFund had, since its establishment, been the main funding source for provision of infrastructure in the educational institutions, over the last years, it had been overstretched, leading to a shortage of funds for the required accelerated educational infrastructural development which was evidenced in the numerous slow moving and uncompleted structures littered our campuses all over the country.
The Vice President said in spite of the budgetary constraints, Government had allocated GH¢3,790,000.00 from the GETFund to the KNUST to enable it to complete its projects.
Vice-President Mahama was full of praise for the KNUST’s introduction of some programmes, such as Petroleum Engineering, Agribusiness and Veterinary Medicine to address contemporary challenges of the nation.
He did not understand why specialised intermediate skills like welders, painters, electricians and other various artisans had been taken over by expatriates, stressing that these demands must be met from our domestic human resource content”.
The Vice-President further commended the university for helping brilliant but needy students to acquire tertiary education without which opportunities would have been lost to them and urged other tertiary institutions in the country to emulate it if they had not started.
He acknowledged the cost of providing tertiary education in the country as expensive and said government would continue, in the foreseeable future, to be the main funding source of tertiary education in Ghana and would continue to make more resources available for the achievement of the expected accelerated development of the economy.
Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Vice-Chancellor of the university, hoped that the graduands would not go and work as parking lot or departmental shop attendants in some foreign lands as the opportunity cost of such a decision would be too much for Ghana to bear.
He wished them the best and asked them to remember to pay back to the country what it had given them in terms of the tremendous sacrifices it had made in their education.
On his part, Otumfuo, the Asantehene, advised the graduands to stay in the country and contribute to its development.
He challenged the KNUST to develop more programmes to propel the country in the face of global challenges.
He pointed out that scholarships funded by the state would, therefore, be available only for critical courses not offered locally or for training more lecturers to increase the academic staff of the country’s universities and polytechnics.
The Vice-President said it was for the state to finance student study abroad for courses that were critical for national development but which were not locally offered in institutions of higher learning.
Mr Mahama was speaking at the 43rd Congregation of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on Saturday.
The ceremony at which nearly 900 students from the School of Graduate Studies, Business and the Law faculty graduated, was dedicated to the Chancellor of the University, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of his ascension to the Golden Stool.
“It is in pursuance of these ideals that the on-going debate on our educational system, precisely the second cycle level, is being encouraged to enable us to reach a national consensus on the educational needs of the nation,” he indicated.
The Vice-President touched on the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and said government intended to decentralise its administration to improve on prioritisation of the fund as well as reviewing the funding sources of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) in order to restore the 15 per cent portion of GETFund which is currently appropriated for that programme.
He regretted that though the GETFund had, since its establishment, been the main funding source for provision of infrastructure in the educational institutions, over the last years, it had been overstretched, leading to a shortage of funds for the required accelerated educational infrastructural development which was evidenced in the numerous slow moving and uncompleted structures littered our campuses all over the country.
The Vice President said in spite of the budgetary constraints, Government had allocated GH¢3,790,000.00 from the GETFund to the KNUST to enable it to complete its projects.
Vice-President Mahama was full of praise for the KNUST’s introduction of some programmes, such as Petroleum Engineering, Agribusiness and Veterinary Medicine to address contemporary challenges of the nation.
He did not understand why specialised intermediate skills like welders, painters, electricians and other various artisans had been taken over by expatriates, stressing that these demands must be met from our domestic human resource content”.
The Vice-President further commended the university for helping brilliant but needy students to acquire tertiary education without which opportunities would have been lost to them and urged other tertiary institutions in the country to emulate it if they had not started.
He acknowledged the cost of providing tertiary education in the country as expensive and said government would continue, in the foreseeable future, to be the main funding source of tertiary education in Ghana and would continue to make more resources available for the achievement of the expected accelerated development of the economy.
Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Vice-Chancellor of the university, hoped that the graduands would not go and work as parking lot or departmental shop attendants in some foreign lands as the opportunity cost of such a decision would be too much for Ghana to bear.
He wished them the best and asked them to remember to pay back to the country what it had given them in terms of the tremendous sacrifices it had made in their education.
On his part, Otumfuo, the Asantehene, advised the graduands to stay in the country and contribute to its development.
He challenged the KNUST to develop more programmes to propel the country in the face of global challenges.
Popular stories from Education
