The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) at the University of Cape Coast has strongly opposed a new proposal from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) that seeks to standardise promotion rules for lecturers across all public universities.
The association says the move exceeds GTEC’s legal powers.
In a statement released on June 29, 2026, UTAG-UCC described the plan as an “overreach of regulatory authority” and insisted that it interferes with the decision-making powers of university governing bodies.
“After careful consideration, UTAG-UCC wishes to state, in the strongest possible terms, its total and unequivocal rejection of the proposed harmonisation framework,” the association said, adding that its Local Executive Council decided after a meeting on June 25.
UTAG-UCC maintained that academic promotions and appointments are core responsibilities of individual universities. It explained that existing laws place such authority in the hands of University Councils and academic boards, not external agencies.
The association also referenced the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023), noting that it establishes GTEC mainly as a body for quality assurance and coordination.
However, it argued that the law does not allow GTEC to control or standardise internal promotion systems across universities.
“GTEC’s statutory role is to regulate standards, promote quality assurance, coordinate national tertiary education policy and encourage best practice. It is not a parallel governing authority over public universities,” the statement added.
UTAG-UCC further argued that differences in promotion criteria among universities are necessary because institutions have different mandates, structures, and academic focuses.
It warned that a uniform system would weaken institutional diversity and could negatively affect academic excellence, especially across comprehensive, specialised, and technical universities.
“A comprehensive university, a specialised university and a technical university cannot reasonably be expected to evaluate academic excellence through identical criteria,” the association stated.
The group also urged GTEC to concentrate on more urgent challenges in the tertiary education sector, such as staff shortages, poor student-lecturer ratios, and inadequate facilities.
“The system is not broken and does not require this form of intervention,” UTAG-UCC said.
The association has therefore called for the immediate withdrawal of the proposed policy and urged the government and the Ministry of Education to reaffirm university autonomy in matters of recruitment and promotion.
It further declared that it would not take part in any consultation process that assumes acceptance of what it called an “illegal and anti-academic policy.”
This position adds to growing resistance within the academic community, as the UTAG branch at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (UTAG-KNUST) has also raised similar objections, saying the proposal lacks sufficient justification.
