The National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and the National Accreditation Board (NAB) have been merged under the new Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023) to form the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission.
The Act was given Presidential Assent on August 21, 2020, paving way for the Governing Board to be appointed and inaugurated on November 25, 2020.
Establishment of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission
By this Act, a corporate body known as the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission.
For the performance of the functions of the Commission, the Commission may acquire and hold property, dispose of property and enter into a contract or any other related transaction. Where there is hindrance to the acquisition of land, the land may be acquired for the Commission under the State Lands Act, 1962 (Act 125) and the cost shall be borne by the Commission.
Objects of the Commission
The objects of the Commission are to regulate tertiary education in all its forms with a view to promote
- efficient and effective administration and accreditation of tertiary education institutions;
- principles of the provision of consistent quality of service by tertiary education institutions;
- advancement and application of knowledge through teaching, scholarly research and collaboration with industry and public sector; and
- the development of appropriate human capital for the sustainable advancement of the national economy.
Functions of the Commission
The Commission shall perform the following functions:
- general
- advisory
- co-ordinating
- regulatory
- accreditation
- and any other function necessary for the attainment of the objects of Commission.
. General functions of the Commission
The Commission shall, in the performance for the general functions, ensure that tertiary education institutions
- apply the highest quality standards and relevance of teaching, learning and research programmes and outcomes;
- promote equitable and inclusive access to all tertiary education programmes and service;
- promote transparent governance and best practices, including reporting and checks and balances to ensure full accountability;
- promote a culture of independent, life-long learning and of scientific and technological inquiry among staff, students and wider society.
Vision: Driving a world class tertiary education system for National Development.
Mission: GTEC exists to ensure equitable access to relevant world class tertiary education through the formulation and coordination of policies and plans, provision of accreditation and quality assurance.
Core Values:
- Professionalism
- Transparency
- Accountability
- Inclusiveness
- Integrity
Our Mandate: >>>> Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023)
CREDENTIAL EVALUATION
In line with the requirements of the Commission’s mandate to evaluate and establish the equivalence of local and foreign qualifications, this service assess educational credentials i.e. certificate, diploma or degree earned from local and other countries into Ghanaian equivalent. GTEC provides evaluation reports and related services that assist employers and education institutions to understand and appreciate the international education qualifications system.
Services available include:
General evaluation report Credential verification and authenticity Institutional Report Evaluation and establishment of equivalences of certificates acquired at all levels of education
FEES
Processing fees for evaluation are periodically reviewed to recover cost. Current the fees are:
Two Hundred and Fifty Ghana cedis (GHc 250.00) for each foreign certificate One Hundred Ghana cedis (GHc 100.00) for each local certificate
RELEVANT FACTS ABOUT CREDENTIAL EVALUATION SERVICE
Evaluation of credentials does not:
1. Describe all the courses studied. It covers only the highest level of qualification earned and submitted for evaluation.
2. Determine or prescribe the grade or rank an applicant have earned after the prescribed period of education
3. Combine the series or number of educational attainment to determine placement or establish a specific grade or rank (in the world of work)
4. Determine the equivalence of certificate of membership, proficiency or participation (in seminar/workshop)
5. Evaluate letters of attestation and result slip. Only certificates awarded after a programme of study are evaluated
CHANGE OF NAME/ADDRESS
1. Certificates bearing different names of the same applicant must be accompanied by the relevant documents effecting the change of name
2. Request to change name in mailing address must necessarily be in writing. The letter requesting this change must indicate the type of certificate, institution of award and the level of qualification.
GUIDELINES FOR COMMUNICATING WITH GTEC
For requests concerning evaluation of credentials, may contact GTEC via written communication, telephone or electronically
I. WORLD WEB ADDRESS
Contact www.gtec.edu.gh for information on evaluation services and other activities
II. E-MAIL
Applicants may also contact the GTEC Secretariat through our email evaluation@gtec.edu.gh for enquiries only
III. LETTERS
GTEC treats your application with confidentiality. Letters must therefore include a reliable postal address and telephone numbers, full names and signatories. It must also state the services being requested.
IV. ONSITE APPOINTMENTS
An applicant may schedule an appointment between the hours of 10am and 2pm, to discuss the applicants concerns
V. TELEPHONE CALLS
The GTEC secretariat provides application status information by telephone to applicants only. Details of evaluation reports will not be released on phone.
A. APPLICATION PROCEDURE
1. An application letter with an address /telephone number(s) of the applicant(s), must be signed and addressed to :
DIRECTOR GENERAL
GHANA TERTIARY EDUCATION COMMISSION
P. O. BOX CT 3256
CANTONMENTS, ACCRA
Or
2. Application form obtainable from the GTEC Secretariat. It should be accompanied by:
• Clear and legible photocopies of all documents
• Original copies of certificate(s)
• Complete certified English translation of all foreign language documents. Foreign language (non-English documents must be accompanied by a certified English translation from any of the following institutions
Ø University of Ghana – Department for Modern Languages
Ø Ghana Institute of Languages
Ø NB// translations from uncertified sources will NOT be accepted
3. Copies of prior qualifications used to enroll on the qualification to be evaluated.
EXCEPTIONS:
1. Certificates from Cuba, and Russia should be accompanied by letters of authentication preferably by their respective Embassies in Ghana before submission.
2. The Commission reserves the right not to accept an application for evaluation if it does not have adequate information.
GENERAL GUIDELINES AND CONDITIONS
1. Without a formal application on file, and appropriate payments made, no evaluation reports will be written.
2. Certificates are evaluated on case-by case basis
3. Only official and original academic records are accepted
4. Transcripts from uncompleted programmes are not evaluated
5. Responses to evaluation requests are delivered by mail. Hence all requests should include a reliable postal address
6. No evaluation reports would be issued until the appropriate procedures for evaluation are completed
7. The original evaluation reports are forwarded directly to an applicant’s employers or institution and a file copy given to the applicant.
8. GTEC reserves the right to verify, from any source, documents submitted for evaluation
9. In the event of verifying documents, should the source request for a signed written consent, the applicant will be called upon to provide an authorization letter.
10. GTEC assesses the qualifications based on information available. This may however change as educational systems are subject to constant reviews. Accordingly, GTEC reserves the right to re-establish equivalences based on new or additional information available to it at the particular point in time.
11. Forged, altered or falsified documents tendered in for evaluation when detected will be referred to the security agencies. Such documents will not be returned but become the property of GTEC. The status of the certificate will however be communicated to applicants’ employers.
12. All non-English documents must be accompanied by certified English translations. Photocopies of original documents on which English translations are based must accompany the application.
13. Certificates are not evaluated instantly. As such, applicants are advised to submit their requests well ahead of time to give the Commission ample time to conduct its investigations on certificates in order to write an accurate report
14. Certificates for evaluation must be hand delivered. Request sent through email cannot be granted.
15. No evaluation can be carried out without copies of the relevant certificates.
16. Refunds are only issued in the event of unavailability of information on a particular credential. Once an application has been submitted no refund will be issued if an applicant does not agree with the evaluation.
NOTE: Please note that the GTEC does not accept applications from institutions that are not accredited by an authorized accrediting agency in their home countries or an accrediting body recognized by any of the GTEC’s partners.
IN THE EVENT OF A DELAYED RESPONSE: GTEC makes every effort to ensure that communication with applicants is clear and timely.
However, due to various factors beyond its control, it is possible that the timelines may be exceeded for some applicants. Events such as delays in postal services, unavailability of information on a particular qualification, delayed responses on authentication, considerably more research or consultations than usually required on a qualification and request for additional information may occasionally affect the prompt processing of application.
Clients should therefore take note of the possibility of delays that may arise out of such unforeseen occurrences.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
The Quality Assurance Department (QAD) is a department of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) which operations are entwined with those of the Accreditation Department (AD) and, to some extent, with the operations of the Research Monitoring and Evaluation Department (RM&ED). The department, under the guidance of the Quality Assurance Committee(QAC), is involved in the development of various quality assurance instruments, guidelines and protocols for all pre-accreditation and post-accreditation quality assurance processes.
The pre-accreditation quality assurance activities of the department include the development of applicants’ self-evaluation instruments in the form of questionnaires, assessors guide, assessors reporting formats, applicants’ response formats, affiliation guidelines, accreditation and quality assurance standards etc. These are primarily, products of the work of the Quality Assurance Committee of the Commission facilitated by the Quality Assurance Department. The department initiates the discussions of these products through the development of working papers that are pre-approved by the Management of the Secretariat of the Commission. The pre-approved working papers are listed as agenda items for the consideration of the Committee which does further work on them and recommends them to the Commission for approval. The department, where necessary, engages the services of external consultants to draft some of these working papers. The design of the instruments and the development of standards are always guided by international best practice informed by research.
The instruments so produced are used for and guide the entire accreditation and post-accreditation quality assurance processes. The common post-accreditation quality assurance work of the department includes Academic Audit, Quality Monitoring, and Institutional Review. Sometimes, Investigative Visits and Verification Visits are also conducted.
While the academic audit exercises are purposely for checking institutions’ compliance with the minimum quality assurance standards for accreditation, the quality monitoring and institutional reviews have a supportive developmental goal that seeks to challenge institutions to pursue their vision and mission statements with a more positive quality culture attitude that embraces quality assurance as a way of life rather than an imposition. There is always an interplay of ideas over an institution’s fitness of purpose and fitness for purpose in such engagements. This challenges institutions to bet their golden coin on securing a place in the community of prestigious institutions of higher learning. This constitutes the pinnacle of attainment by the Commission.
The Quality Assurance Department is headed by a top official who reports to the Executive Secretary. The head is supported by a number of frontline staff who perform several important functions which together define what the department stands for quality assurance.
TRAINING
Building the capacity of staff, Commission, experts and client institutions is a critical function of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) of Ghana. Apart from their administrative functions at the secretariat of the Commission, frontline staff are involved in supporting the technical work of the Commission. They also facilitate the experts’ work at the various client institutions. Experts of diverse backgrounds most of whom might not have been involved in accreditation and external quality assurance processes before, are engaged by the Commission for its services. Membership of the Commission also changes with time. Likewise, quality assurance managers of client institutions including institutional headship and headship of the internal quality assurance departments of these institutions keep changing with time.
The Commission organizes targeted training for each of these interest groups to sustain an institutional culture of maintaining a common understanding of Commission’s operational environment and requirements. The laws, policies, standards, procedures and guidelines are presented, operational experiences and best practices shared, and operational concerns raised for redress. Some of these concerns have triggered review of important policies, standards, guidelines and procedures. The skills of internal quality assurance officers are enhanced, through such capacity building training workshops, to develop the quality assurance systems of their respective client institutions.
Beyond engagements with these ‘internal’ organs, the Commission also holds special capacity building engagements with the general public and targeted social and professional groups with the purpose of explaining its role as a regulatory body and its relevance as a regulator in the higher education quality assurance space. Such capacity building opportunities also provide the platform for the Commission to demonstrate accountability to the general public which is the whole essence of quality assurance, both internal and external.
The Commission encourages further development of its staff through scholarships for further studies and sponsorships for participation in international and local conferences relevant to its operations as a quality assurance agency. In this regard, the Commission takes advantage of the several capacity building opportunities made available by its local, regional and international networks of quality assurance bodies and higher education institutional partners.
