Local President of the Private Universities Association of Ghana (PUSAG) at the All Nations University College in Koforidua, Eastern Region has made a call on government to make them enjoy subventions as they also pay taxes.
Addressing a gathering of the college’s management and the media to report on the performance of the College at the recent PUSAG,Ebenezer Appiah-Kubi lamented how private universities have to compete with public universities in the area of recruitment and retention of highly qualified faculty.
“There is the non-ubiquitous lack of finances for expansion, research, inadequate infrastructure among others,” he noted, adding that “libraries are ill-resourced and laboratories are also acute”.
He pointed out that the recent salary increment for government workers makes compensation packages in public universities more attractive than what most private universities can afford. “In well-endowed countries, [private] universities receive funding from a variety of sources including government agencies such as sponsorship, falls into contract, corporate agreement, gift endowment and royalties”.
However, he said, private universities in Ghana do not have access to these funding sources and have to rely mainly on internally generated funds (IGFs) and loans that attract abnormally high interest rates from banks. He said public universities, on the other hand, are subsidised by government and “we think it is good and natural for government to assist us”.
“We think private universities should not be deprived of government intervention such as GETFund, state scholarship and research grants and even subsidize for infrastructure expansion.” All Nations University College was awarded overall best in the just-ended PUSAG Games held at Cape Coast in the Central Region after its students took medals in volleyball, football, athletics, among others. The Registrar, Andrian Ion, commended students for the laurels won.
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