The Research and Technology and Higher Education Ministry said that students graduating from universities and colleges that were inactive on account of various violations will not receive diplomas acknowledged by the government. The ministry announced that 239 universities had been deemed problematic and were now inactive, meaning that they would not get services from the ministry such as grant distributions, professor certifications and scholarships. The ministry would also deny proposals for accreditation or new study programs

The National Commission on Higher Education says students seeking enrollment in universities in the country should inquire whether such institutions are registered with the Ministry of Education. The commission’s Director General said these fake or substandard universities offer degrees in various professions at poor quality to students.

Foreign tertiary institutions in Ghana have been directed by the National Accreditation Board to ensure that only students with certificates awarded by institutions accredited by the board be admitted to PhD courses. It is also concerned about a spate of honorary degrees awarded to personalities by some unaccredited or unqualified institutions.

Accreditors keep hundreds of schools with low graduation rates or high loan defaults alive. Most colleges can’t keep their doors open without an accreditor’s seal of approval, which is needed to get students access to federal loans and grants. But accreditors hardly ever kick out the worst-performing colleges and lack uniform standards for assessing graduation rates and loan defaults.

Members of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity discussed their latest set of proposals to overhaul the accreditation process and the way the committee assesses the accreditors. Soon after, the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions released a somewhat similar set of proposals in a white paper written by committee staff members.

The issue of quality assurance in the tertiary education system has become a public concern as a consequence of the scandal in which the president of the National Accreditation Commission and at least two chancellors of private universities were arrested and accused of money laundering, bribery and accepting kickbacks.