Officials from Liberia National Commission on Higher Education visit UG
A delegation from the Liberia National Commission on Higher Education has visited the University of Ghana and held meetings with the Senior Management as part of their educational tour of Ghana.
The Director for Quality Assurance at the National Commission on Higher Education in Liberia, Mr. Reginald Mehnpaine, explained that their visit was prompted by the changing trends in educational regulation and delivery.
“Our aim is to learn from sister countries on the continent and understand how we could adopt and apply the best practices in Liberia,” Mr. Mehnpaine expressed.
Mr. Mehnpaine described the National Commission on Higher Education's role as the regulatory authority for higher education in Liberia, overseeing and monitoring all higher education activities in the country. He noted that they were seeking meaningful reforms in areas such as quality assurance, learning, accreditation, policy framework, and other regulatory and management issues.
Regarding collaboration prospects, Mr. Mehnpaine said, “Our Director-General has taken the task to go out to seek collaboration and see what we can do to bring about some meaningful reform into the system, regarding quality delivery, programming, and structure. So, this is why we talked with the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and traveled to Ghana and see how we can tap into your best practices and see how our educational institutions in Liberia can benefit from you.”
In his welcoming remarks, the Chair of the meeting and Pro-Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Gordon Awandare, extended a warm welcome to the Liberian team. He provided an overview of the University's organisational structure, highlighting the roles of key personnel, including the Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellors, and other administrative heads.
Prof. Awandare explained that “Academic programmes are run through four colleges; the College of Humanities, the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, the College of Education, and the College of Health Sciences. Each college is headed by a Provost, and under the provost, you have Deans who head schools, and the schools have departments that have the head of departments, so teaching and learning are done at the department level.”
Prof. Awandare also disclosed that “in addition to the teaching units, we have university-wide directorates that support teaching and learning.”
During the meeting, the Provosts from the College of Humanities, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, and the College of Education, took turns to speak about their respective colleges. They also discussed challenges related to the accreditation of courses.
Prof. Daniel Kwabena Twerefou, Director of the Academic and Quality Assurance Unit, on his part, highlighted the efforts of his unit to ensure quality across all academic units, programmes, and institutions awarding University of Ghana degrees.
The Liberian delegation included Moses Kesselly, Director for Monitoring and Evaluation at the National Commission on Higher Education in Liberia. The delegation was accompanied by Ms. Elaine Adjepong and Mr. Emmanuel Abayateye from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission.
Present at the meeting from the University of Ghana were Pro Vice-Chancellor RID, Professor Felix Ankomah Asante; Registrar, Mrs. Emelia Agyei Mensah; Provost for the College of Humanities, Prof. Daniel Frimpong Ofori; Provost of the College of Education, Prof. Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe; and Provost for the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, Prof. Boateng Onwona-Agyeman.
Also in attendance were Senior Assistant Registrar at the Public Affairs Directorate, Ms. Pascaline Songsore, and Mr. Mawusi K. Glozah, Senior Assistant Registrar at the Pro VC (ASA)’s Office.