The University Teachers Association of Ghana – University of Ghana chapter (UTAG‑UG) has warned that inadequate pay is deterring highly qualified academics, especially PhDs, from joining Ghanaian universities.
Dr Jerry Joe Harrison, president of the UTAG‑UG chapter, said the issue should be tackled by improving lecturers’ conditions of service and strengthening universities’ capacity to train their own academics, rather than having the regulator take over faculty recruitment.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on 9 September 2026, Dr Harrison questioned how a lawyer could leave a lucrative practice to pursue a PhD and then return to teaching if the remuneration offered to lecturers is so low. He added that the same problem plagues other professional disciplines, including medicine, where practical experience is a key component of academic expertise.
While acknowledging universities must recruit highly qualified staff, Dr Harrison warned that rigid requirements could make it difficult to fill vacancies in disciplines where PhD holders are scarce. He urged that professional experience be recognised as a source of expertise, particularly in fields where practitioners may be reluctant to leave lucrative careers for academia.
The comments come amid UTAG‑UG’s criticism of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) over its decision to advertise faculty positions for public higher education institutions. UTAG argues that recruitment should remain the responsibility of individual institutions and their academic and governance structures.
Dr Harrison suggested that if universities struggle to find qualified academics, GTEC should help institutions develop the capacity to produce more PhD holders. “If an institution is having difficulty recruiting, you could easily help the institution to set up a PhD programme, through which they can channel people who can then come back and help the institution,” he said.
He added that universities already consider national priorities when determining research and training needs and could similarly identify areas where additional academic capacity is required. “Nothing is wrong with that,” he said, arguing that institutions facing shortages in particular disciplines could be supported to develop programmes that produce the expertise needed by both universities and the wider economy.
Dr Harrison maintained that GTEC should focus on its regulatory and advisory responsibilities rather than taking over the recruitment of academic staff. “We must be guided by the requirements, we must be guided by the availability, we must be guided by the quality of the people that we are receiving,” he said.
