Mainstreaming Open and Distance Learning in Tertiary Education is a key strategic option that needs to be pursued vigorously in the country, according to Minister of Education, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang.
It is in furtherance of this, that the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) is working hard to fast track the implementation of the Open University Ghana Project.
The minister said this in a speech read on her behalf by the Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education, Prof. Mohammed Salifu at the 48TH Congregation (6th to 13th Sessions) of the University of Cape Coast.
Distance Education as a Tool for Delivering Quality Tertiary Education
According to the minister, the government sees distance education in all its manifestation as the key to delivering quality tertiary level education to the critical mass of the people.
The minister was of the view that tertiary education was perceived as elitist because it remained largely accessible to a small segment of the population. This according to the education minister was so because the capacity to enrol the desired numbers was severely hampered by the continuing reliance on the traditional “brick and mortar” approach to education delivery. “As a result of this, gross enrolment ratio for 2014/15, for example, stood at 14% as against the target of 25%”, she said.
Consequently, Prof. Opoku Agyemang said there were ongoing efforts to support initiatives and investments in technology-enhanced learning to promote distance learning to make it relevant to the labour market.
Creating Access to Tertiary Education through CoDE
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. D. D. Kuupole in his report said the College of Distance Education (CoDE) was established to give the opportunity of access to the teeming number of qualified people who otherwise would have been denied University education.
In order for the college does not renege on its mandate, the Vice-Chancellor said the college has expanded access by opening seventy-three (73) more study centres for the increasing number of applicants desiring to enrol. He indicated the College has begun the provision of postgraduate education at four centres at Cape Coast, Kumasi, Accra and Tamale, with plans in place to open others at Bolgatanga, Sunyani and Takoradi.
Be Good Ambassadors of UCC
Prof. Kuupole said he had no doubt that; the graduates would bring the knowledge and skills acquired during their period of study to bear on the economy of the nation.
“You will need initiative and tenacity of purpose because the market is choked”, he said. He also charged the graduates to use the experience acquired to be at the forefront of the campaign against indiscipline in society.
A BSc Marketing Student, Mr. Sylvester Adreban was judged the best graduating student with a CGPA of 4.0.