Dr. Osei Darkwa, Principal of the Ghana Telecom University College, announced moves to increase accessibility to tertiary education in Ghana, calling for an immediate establishment of an Open University. Speaking at the 59th Annual New Year School, an extra mural programme organised by the Institute of Adult Education of the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr Darkwa expressed concern about the numerous problems that restricted admissions into the traditional universities. He underscored the need for a bold decision to create the National Open University of Ghana (NOUG) that uses the ICT to connect Ghanaians who may be everywhere to teachers, students and the tools for learning. The NOUG would use a mix of technologies ranging from face to face, print, audio, video, and web based to deliver lectures to students who may be scattered all over the country.
Currently, the present traditional universities could accommodate only 30 per cent of all qualified applicants, and those from villages who want to learn must leave their communities and go to the cities, since small villages do not have access to tertiary institutions. In numerical terms, the proposed Open University of Ghana can be a mega-university enrolling over 100,000 students, its capacity limited only by the instructional capability of Ghana.
