В Гане планируют создать национальный университет для снижения стоимости подготовки учителей

The proposed National University of Teacher Education (NUTE) could reduce the cost of teacher education for students by eliminating affiliation and examination-related charges currently paid to mentoring universities, Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has said. Eduwatch said payments to mentoring universities currently account for about 20% of fees paid by students of Ghana’s Colleges of Education, making the proposed reform an opportunity to deliver direct financial savings to students. “Removing the intermediary affiliation arrangement should therefore create an efficiency gain that directly benefits students,” Eduwatch said in its position paper on the proposed National University of Teacher Education on Tuesday, August 25, 2026. The Education Policy Think Tank, however, cautioned that the establishment of NUTE should not simply transfer the existing costs from the mentoring universities to the new institution through new charges. “Cost reduction should be an explicit and measurable reform outcome,” it said. Eduwatch said the government should clearly identify the affiliation and examination-related charges currently paid to mentoring universities and specify which of those costs would cease once NUTE assumes responsibility for awarding degrees. “Affiliation-related costs should not be transferred to NUTE or reintroduced under new fee categories,” the organisation said. The position paper supports the proposal to establish NUTE as a public, degree-awarding, federated university comprising Ghana’s 49 public Colleges of Education. Eduwatch said the reform presented an opportunity to address longstanding fragmentation in teacher education, including separate governance arrangements, uneven academic capacity, weak research orientation and limited coordination across the Colleges. Currently, the 49 Colleges operate under separate governance arrangements while depending on six mentoring universities for degree-awarding and other academic functions. Eduwatch said the proposed university could replace the existing affiliation system with a more coherent national framework for academic standards, assessment, quality assurance, research and teacher development. Eduwatch stressed, however, that the success of NUTE should ultimately be measured by whether it strengthens the Colleges, improves teacher preparation, reduces costs to students and contributes to better learning outcomes. It also called for a sustainable financing framework for the proposed university, warning that restructuring the system without adequate funding could change governance arrangements without improving teaching and learning. According to Eduwatch, financing should cover academic staffing, faculty development, research, libraries, digital infrastructure, teaching and learning facilities, practicum supervision, quality assurance and continuing professional development. It said the government should prioritise academic quality and institutional capacity over administrative expansion as it implements the proposed reform.