By: Felix Baidoo

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), has directed the leadership of the College of Community and Organizational Development (CCOD) in Sunyani to abrogate its partnership arrangement with the University of Central Nicaragua which is affiliated with the Texila America University.

The directive was carried in a letter dated 29th January 2025 and signed by Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, Director General for GTEC.
It stated that GTEC as the regulator of tertiary education in the country does not have any evidence of Texila America University’s full accreditation in its home country, while CCOD was also yet to complete the processes leading to the granting of its institutional accreditation.
“In view of the foregoing, the Commission direct you to provide evidence of Texila America University accreditation, as well as the specific roles it had played in its affiliation with UCN”. It stated.

Nullification of certificates
The letter stated again that “in the meantime, certificates awarded to graduands of programmes being offered in this partnership cannot be used in Ghana for purposes of employment, promotion or professional qualification until evidence of accreditation of the awarding institutions has been confirmed by GTEC”.

GTEC’s action follows information it received over the awarding of a PhD in Management to some individuals by the UCN in affiliation with Texila America University in partnership with the CCOD in the country.
Previous revocations

In a related development, GTEC in August 2024 revoked the institutional registration of OAA Consultation Ltd over similar breaches after it failed to adhere to the directives of GTEC.
The revocation letter dated 7th August 2024 and signed by Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, stated that OAA Consulting Limited was registered to solely recruit students for OAA Universidad Empresarial De Costa Rica (UNEM), however, the institution recruited local faculty to teach programmes contrary to the terms of the earlier agreement between their institution the elsewhere National Accreditation Board.

It also indicated that the degree programmes offered by the UNEM were not accredited by the regulatory body in its home country (Costa Rica). Noting that the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020 Act (Act 1023) “a person who operates tertiary institutions or runs a tertiary education programme that is not accredited, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than 10,000 penalty units and not more than 20,000 penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years and not more than 20 years or both”.

Again, it stated that two academic institutions (Faculty of Technology, Management and Applied Science, South Africa and Universal Trinity College, Florida, USA) were not part of the package OAA submitted for the initial registration and of questionable accreditation status had been involved in the delivery of UNEM’s programmes.

Another reason for the revocation of the institutional registration was that one of the qualifications of Prof. Allan Kwesi Asante-Yeboah (Doctor of Letters) was awarded by an unaccredited institution-Universal Trinity College.

Given the above and other reasons, “Prof. Allan Kwesi Asante-Yeboah should desist from using the Professorial title since there are no records to prove he was duly assessed by a recognized tertiary education institution to merit the use of the academic title”.

The GTEC letter stated that in the light of the above actions, contrary to the grant of registration and subsequent registration in the past, the institution of OAA Consulting Limited had been rescinded and directed to stop operations.