The Public Relations Officer of the Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana, Emmanuel Owusu, is calling on University Communities to explore creative and innovative means of raising money for their operations.
According to him, the University Communities have been overly focused on students’ fees as the sole source of funds in their operation. This, he said, does not sustain institutions.
“University Communities have been over focused on students’ fees in running. And when you become okay with traditional ways of raising funds, you cannot sustain the universities,” Mr. Owusu said.
According to Emmanuel Owusu, members of GRASAG are agitated about the situation, “which are grounds for chaos”.
Mr. Owusu further added that the over-focus on students’ fees for running Universities accounts for the increment of fees whenever there is an economic crisis.
He urged University operators to explore more innovative means of obtaining funds to aid their operations.
He added that students’ cost buildup is not limited to fee payment and so whenever fees are increased, it puts pressure on the already burdened students.
“I cannot be master of ideas at the moment but an institution like University of Professional Studies (UPSA) is a typical example worth emulating. They hired auditorium and other facilities generating to them huge sum of money,” Mr. Owusu stressed.
He suggested seeking support from industries.
“There are some industries that will be interested in financing the universities provided the universities can consulting pullout proposal whatever you are doing we will be able to contribute through research work because fees collection is too easy a way of raising money,” he said.