University education in Ghana, formality??

For quite some time now, the quality of education offered in Ghanaian universities has been described by many as questionable; especially with regards to first degrees in the humanities. A lot of students also have small businesses which they start on the side while in school, then go on to do full time after work. Again, these businesses usually have little to do with what they are studying in school. I think it is safe to assume that perhaps the main benefit of university for such people would be the contacts that they have been able to make while in school. Many university graduates go on to work in places that have very little to do with what they studied in school. They manage okay, but the question is, if they are not applying what they have learnt, what’s the point of going to university in the first place?

I don’t think these issues are specific to the university of Ghana but it’s probably best to write about places I have first hand information about.

A lot of the courses treated in the humanities are not really regarded by those studying them as relevant. To avoid controversy, I shall refrain from being specific.

Perhaps, because of the large class sizes, the quality of education is compromised because the alternative would be to have most of the people stuck at home with no education. It’s a bit of a difficult situation because on one hand, we have the masses being educated, but the quality of education being offered to them suffers because the lecturers are unable to give them individual attention, and on the other hand, we could decide to reduce the intake of students in order to afford them more quality education, and deprive many others the opportunity for education. The quality of education offered in the university of Ghana business school, medical school, law school is undeniably good, and the class sizes are tiny as compared to those in the humanities.

In the university of Ghana, students are basically taught to pass exams and not much else. If this is not the case, why is it that some students do not come for lectures, some even travel and come back about two weeks to the exam period and still pass? Students are not taught to apply the courses studied in everyday life. Someone raised a point that most of the courses taught are actually relevant but we do not see this because emphasis of learning is on memorizing and reproducing and not application.

This is in no way suggesting that the universities in Ghana are not serious, but it would probably be better if the style of teaching was changed to involve a lot more application, because as it is now, it is usually a matter of chew-and –pour and some students who decide to memorise the material given them without necessarily understanding the course fare better than those who decide to actually take their time to understand what they read and I don’t know about you reading this, but I think it’s unfair.

I think because of the class sizes, the quality of education has been highly compromised and students are not getting what they can and ought to acquire from university education because the government wants more people to be catered for. Perhaps opportunities should be provided for students to go and work in the fields of their courses during the vacation and this can form part of their assessment so that students can feel that they are actually putting what they are learning to use and are not just in university for the sake of it.