When technical universities forget heir mandate

By Edwin S. Kwame KOGE

Ghana’s public tertiary education system was deliberately structured around differentiated mandates. It was designed to ensure that traditional universities, Technical Universities, Colleges of Education, and specialized institutions each serve a defined segment of the national human capital pipeline.

That architecture is now under quiet strain. The concern is mandate drift. Institutions created to solve specific national skills deficits are increasingly expanding into programme areas that dilute their statutory purpose. This is not a debate about academic freedom or intellectual diversity. It is a governance and development issue.

Consider the University of Health and Allied Sciences. Established under Act 828 of 2011, its object is clear: to train health and allied health professionals in response to chronic shortages in Ghana’s healthcare system. Its programme mix reflects that focus.

Similarly, Colleges of Education exist to produce professional teachers for pre tertiary education. The University of Cape Coast and the University of Education, Winneba have historically anchored teacher education within broader academic ecosystems, strengthening pedagogy and professional standards nationwide. Polytechnics, repositioned under the Technical Universities Act, 2016 as Technical Universities were to serve a distinct developmental function.

Their mandate is to produce technically competent graduates in engineering, applied sciences, manufacturing, construction, and technology driven sectors. They were designed to support industrialization, skills transfer, innovation, and industry linkage within a production economy.

That distinction matters. Yet increasingly, Technical Universities are mounting programmes in conventional social sciences and generic management studies with limited technical integration. The issue is not whether social sciences are important.

They are foundational to national development. The question is whether institutions created to close Ghana’s technical skills gap should gradually become replicas of comprehensive universities.

The regulatory imperative

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission, established under the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020, has a statutory mandate that goes beyond routine accreditation. It is responsible for ensuring quality assurance, compliance with enabling Acts, and alignment with national development priorities.

Programme approval cannot be reduced to academic readiness alone. It must answer a strategic question: Does this programme align with the institution’s legally defined object and Ghana’s human resource strategy? Institutional charters are not ceremonial documents.

They define scope and purpose. If a Technical University expands into generalist disciplines without applied integration, the regulator must interrogate alignment. Approval should not be automatic simply because a curriculum meets minimum academic standards.

International experience reinforces this point. Germany’s Fachhochschulen operate strictly as applied sciences institutions with strong industry integration. They do not compete with research universities on purely theoretical tracks detached from applied outcomes. Role clarity is protected through regulatory discipline and funding design. Ghana’s differentiated system deserves similar coherence.

Systemic distortions

Mandate drift creates structural distortions. First, duplication intensifies. Comprehensive universities already maintain established faculties of social sciences, humanities, and business with deeper research cultures and faculty ecosystems. When Technical Universities mount parallel programmes without technical anchoring, they compete in fields where they hold no comparative advantage.

Second, specialization erodes. Institutional excellence thrives on focus. Technical Universities were differentiated to produce engineers, technologists, and applied science professionals. When they attempt to be everything to everyone, the likely outcome is dilution of quality.

Third, labour market misalignment worsens. Ghana faces graduate unemployment alongside persistent shortages in engineering technicians, industrial maintenance professionals, applied digital specialists, and construction technologists. Employers continue to report deficits in practical technical competencies.

If institutions mandated to close these gaps pivot toward saturated disciplines, the imbalance deepens. Human capital development must be demand driven. Industrialization, infrastructure expansion, energy transition, agribusiness modernization, and digital transformation require technically grounded manpower. Diverting institutional focus weakens that pipeline.

Governance and fiscal questions

Every public tertiary institution operates under an enabling statute that defines its objects and functions. These statutes are binding instruments of law. Expanding into unrelated academic domains without compelling justification risks undermining legislative intent. Regulatory responsibility therefore extends beyond quality assurance. It includes mandate enforcement.

Public finance considerations make the issue more urgent. Government subventions and capital investments in Technical Universities were justified on the basis of technical training infrastructure.

Laboratories, workshops, and fabrication facilities were funded to address industrial capacity deficits. If those institutions increasingly prioritize non-technical programmes, legitimate questions arise about resource alignment and fiscal prudence. This is not an argument against innovation.

Technical Universities can legitimately mount programmes such as industrial management, technology entrepreneurship, construction economics, supply chain analytics, and applied communication for industry. These fields reinforce technical ecosystems. Purely theoretical programmes detached from applied orientation, however, sit uneasily within statutory purpose.

Human capital consequences

The long-term implications for Ghana’s development trajectory are serious. Diluting technical focus shrinks the pipeline of middle level technical professionals. This heightens reliance on expatriate expertise and constrains productivity growth.

Expanding generic social science enrolment without corresponding labour absorption capacity exacerbates graduate unemployment and underemployment. The market for undifferentiated degrees is already competitive. Applied research capacity may also weaken.

Technical Universities are positioned to lead industry linked research in manufacturing, renewable energy systems, construction technology, automation, and digital fabrication. A shift toward conventional academic tracks risks reducing industry-oriented innovation. Institutional identity dilution follows.

Students and employers rely on brand clarity. If Technical Universities become indistinguishable from comprehensive universities, stakeholder confidence weakens. At the macro level, workforce forecasting becomes unreliable. National development planning depends on predictable institutional outputs. Fluid mandates complicate coordination between education, labour, trade, and industry ministries.

A strategic reset

Education systems must evolve. However, evolution must be strategic rather than opportunistic. Revenue pressures and enrolment competition cannot override statutory purpose. Ghana must preserve the integrity of its differentiated tertiary architecture. Technical Universities should lead in advanced manufacturing, applied computing, robotics, renewable energy systems, construction technology, and industrial design.

Comprehensive universities should anchor broad social sciences and humanities. Colleges of Education must consolidate teacher training excellence. Health focused institutions should deepen medical and allied sciences. Clarity is not rigidity. It is strategic strength.

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission and allied oversight bodies possess both the authority and responsibility to reinforce mandate fidelity through programme audits, labour market informed accreditation, and funding incentives that reward specialization.

Human capital remains Ghana’s most strategic asset. Misaligning the tertiary education ecosystem is not a minor administrative oversight. It is a developmental risk. The time for regulatory assertiveness is now.

>>>As a Strategic Communication & International Affairs Specialist, Edwin has strong expertise in Public Relations and International Affairs across government, corporate, and non-profit sectors. He is skilled in developing communication strategies that strengthen reputation, build trust and shape policy and experienced in managing PR initiatives with proven ability to align them with organizational goals. He holds an MPhil in Strategic Public Relations Management, an MA in International Affairs, a BA and Diploma in Communication Studies, and a Training Certificate in Information Technology. His professional experience includes roles as a Research Assistant at Parliament of Ghana, Administrative Assistant with PR duties at Ho Technical University, and Senior High School English Language and ICT teacher. His research interests focus on standards, ethics, transparency, and accountability in Public Relations practice, and issues at the intersection of public policy, governance and strategic communication. He can be reached via [email protected] | www.linkedin.com/in/edwinsarkoge

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