Former Minister for Power and MP, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, says Ghana’s national development dream will continue to stall if its universities continue producing more human capital that does not align with the current socio-economic needs of the country.
Dr. Donkor is concerned that many tertiary institutions are drifting away from their core mission, and joining the “bandwagon” to produce mass graduates who do not fit the development aspiration of the country.
For him, while the country needs more scientists, engineers, technologists, and mathematician to drive the needed sustainable growth, the universities are rather producing more graduates in the liberal or social sciences, which he believes, do not currently align with the country’s human capital needs.
To rectify this situation, Dr. Donkor emphasizes that the role of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) cannot be overstated.
The former Minister of Power insists GTEC must use its regulatory authority to redirect the country’s human capital pipeline toward science, mathematics, and engineering, the very disciplines that drive global competitiveness.
“If we have a regulator that allows our pioneer university of science and technology to be overwhelmed by non-science and technology courses, then we have a national problem,” Dr. Donkor told The High Street Journal.
The Regulator’s Mandate: The Need to Define the Human Capital Needs
By law, GTEC is not just a stamp-approving body; it is both a regulator and an advisor to government. It has powers to accredit programmes, set standards, and guide national human capital planning. Yet, Dr. Donkor argues, its role has been too narrowly reduced to validating certificates and degrees, although he agrees that the regulator must cleanse the system of fraud.
According to him, GTEC in collaboration with the government must define the human capital needs of the country based on the development aspirations. The regulator must then ensure that the universities are producing the required human resources.
“The recognition of certificates is only the tip of the iceberg. The real responsibility lies in shaping educational programmes to meet Ghana’s development priorities,” he stressed.
Science and Technology: The Missing Priority
Despite being established with a mandate to specialize in science and technology, Dr. Donkor bemoaned that many of Ghana’s technical universities now run more business and marketing programmes than engineering or applied sciences.
According to Dr. Donkor, this drift reflects a failure of regulatory oversight which was be renewed.
“Unfortunately, our universities and other tertiary bodies established with a science and technology bias today have been overwhelmed by humanities. I am not saying the humanities are not good, but our priority for national development, the thrust of human capital development must be science and technology,” he lamented.
How GTEC Can Refocus the Pipeline
But all hope is not lost as Dr. Donkor believes GTEC can directly reshape the human capital pipeline to the needs of the country. The Minister suggest the following innovative ways to correct the anomaly;
Balancing Programmes: The former minister urges GTEC to mandate science and technology universities to ensure 60–70% of their courses are STEM-based.
Controlling Numbers: Approving not just programmes but also student intakes, based on available laboratories and facilities.
Infrastructure-Linked Approvals: He suggests the tying of programme approval to investments in laboratories, workshops, and research facilities.
Reducing Over-Supply: Dr. Donkor also emphasizes that the regulator must gradually cut down on social science enrolments while expanding mathematics, technology, and applied sciences.
“In other jurisdictions, you don’t just approve the programmes, but also the numbers, because you have a responsibility for assessing the facilities. So, if we can say you don’t have enough laboratories, they recommend you increase the number of your laboratories; it is part of the regulator’s responsibility,” he indicated.
He added, “We can also say that you have too many social science students. Take steps to reduce the number of social science students in the next five years. And expand, for example, students of mathematics or students of technology or the applied sciences.”
The Bigger Picture
Dr. Donkor emphasized that natural resources alone cannot propel Ghana into prosperity. Instead, the intellect, creativity, and technical competence of its people, shaped by deliberate education planning, must form the bedrock of national growth.
To him, development starts from the intellect. If the country fails to build strong human capital in science, maths, and technology, then our outcomes as a nation will remain mediocre.
GTEC, he concluded, must rise above being a passive regulator and embrace its role as a strategic architect of Ghana’s development. By directing universities to prioritize STEM, the Commission can help produce the engineers, innovators, and problem-solvers Ghana urgently needs to compete in the 21st century.
