In recent years, Ghana’s higher education industry has expanded rapidly. Tertiary enrollments more than quadrupled between 2009 and 2015, rising from 203,337 to 417,534 in only six years (UIS data). This expansion, like that of other African nations, has been followed by a rapid expansion of the private sector, with the number of private HEIs increasing from two in 1999 to 81 now.
While universities are multi-faculty institutions dedicated to “advanced instruction and research in several branches of learning, conferring degrees in various faculties, and frequently embodying colleges, schools, and similar institutions,” technical universities and professional institutions are more narrowly specialized in specific disciplines. Several major state universities, such as the University of Energy and Natural Resources and the University of Education, Winneba, have a more specific concentration.
If you are a Ghanaian student kick-starting your adventurous college lives, you might want to check out these Top 10 Universities in Ghana to help you decide which starting line you want to end up on. Deciding your university is as exciting as it is agonizing, but don’t worry, we’ll be sure to help you figure out which university suits your interests.
Listed below are the Top 10 Universities in Ghana according to the rankings released by UniRank:
1. University of Ghana
The University of Ghana, Ghana’s oldest and largest public university, was founded in 1948 as an associate college of the University of London and was granted degree-awarding status by an Act of Parliament in 1961. The University provides distinctive courses in the arts, business, physical and biological sciences, law, agriculture, nuclear and related sciences, and engineering sciences, with the objective of developing world-class human resources to tackle global development concerns. They also offer courses in medical, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, and allied health disciplines through the College of Health Sciences. Crop and soil science, animal science, home science, agribusiness, and agricultural economics are all available in the College of Agriculture. They are constantly approving new and altered programs and courses to expand their curriculum.
Faculty members are active in studies that assist policy making for national development through their research institutions and other centers of learning and research, typically in partnership with other international institutes. The University is striving to encourage more multidisciplinary research in order to solve Ghana’s, as well as continental and worldwide, development requirements. A number of Ghanaian and foreign institutions are currently affiliated with the university.
2. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology was founded in 1951 as the Kumasi College of Technology. In 1961, the institution was elevated to the rank of a full university, becoming Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Kumasi, a city in southern Ghana, is home to the institution. Kumasi is the Ashanti Region’s capital and Ghana’s second-largest city after Accra.
The university has six colleges: agriculture and natural resources, art and built environment, humanities and social sciences, engineering, health sciences, and science. These institutions have faculties that provide a variety of undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
The Board of Graduate Studies was created in 1974 to help students who wanted to specialize in science and technology. To contribute to Ghana’s economic, scientific, technical, and social growth, the board was granted school status in 2000. Students are encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities. There are now over 100 student clubs and organizations on campus, and this number is growing every year.
3. University of Cape Coast
Globally, the University of Cape Coast leads in research influence. The University of Cape Coast is 500 meters from the Atlantic. It is therefore one of the world’s few seafront universities. The university is located on Cape Coast, a major tourist destination in West Africa due to its historic buildings, national park, and magnificent beaches. Furthermore, Cape Coast Castle was the seat of Swedish, Portuguese, Danish, Dutch, and British colonial administrations.
The university offers relevant undergraduate and graduate programs in the social sciences, arts, sciences, formal sciences, and education. Their programs are influenced by worldwide trends in solving today’s challenging concerns. The institution provides a peaceful academic and relaxed atmosphere with student-friendly amenities.
The university’s academic programs are divided into five colleges: Health and Allied Sciences, Distance Education, Humanities and Legal Studies, Agriculture and Natural Sciences, and Education. The world-class Centres of Excellence foster multi-disciplinary education and research. The programs are geared for both short-term and degree-seeking students. The institution has significant relationships in Ghana and globally. Their education, research, and innovation partnerships are built on best practices, which ensure mutual benefits.
4. United States International University Africa
Under PNDC Law 322, the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) was created in September 1992 as a University College. The University of Education Act, Act 672, was enacted on May 14, 2004, to elevate the University College of Education of Winneba to the status of a full university.
The University College of Education of Winneba merged seven diploma-granting colleges from several towns into a single school: the Advanced Teacher Training College, the Specialist Training College, and the National Academy of Music were all located in Winneba; the School of Ghana Languages located in Ajumako; the College of Special Education located in Akwapim-Mampong; the Advanced Technical Training College located in Kumasi; and the St. Andrews Agricultural Training College located in Mampong-Ashanti.
Its primary goal is to prepare teachers for Ghana’s educational system. The University of Education, Winneba is in charge of teacher education and creating professional educators to pioneer a new national vision of education aimed at refocusing Ghana’s efforts toward rapid economic and social development. The University of Education, Winneba is intended to take the lead in Ghana’s effort to create academics whose knowledge is completely responsive to the realities and necessities of modern Ghana.
5. Ashesi University
By teaching the next generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders and increasing the bar for higher education in Africa, Ashesi University hopes to help spark an African renaissance. This non-profit, interdisciplinary institution in Ghana offers a challenging liberal arts core as well as degree programs in Computer Science, Business Administration, Management Information Systems, and Engineering. A student-led honor code, hands-on learning, integrated community service, and real-world projects equip students to propose answers to the difficulties that their communities, nations, and continent face.
Ashesi is presently recognized as an African higher education leader. In 2018, Ghana’s President awarded the University a Charter to function as a completely independent institution, no longer subject to the supervision of a public university under Ghana’s accreditation system. Only five of Ghana’s 86 private colleges have a charter, and Ashesi is the country’s youngest to get such accreditation.
Ashesi was named one of the world’s top 400 universities in the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings in 2020, a rating based on the measures performed by institutions to assist accomplish the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The university was ranked first in Ghana and eighth overall in Africa.
6. Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration
Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration is a public tertiary institution founded with the mission of preparing public employees with administrative and professional skills to plan and run national, regional, and local level services. The Ghanaian government founded the institution as The Institute of Public Administration with aid from the United Nations Special Fund Project. It was then handed over to the Ghanaian government in 1966, and an act of parliament in 2004 designated it as a public institution.
To reflect its enlarged roles, the Institute was renamed the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in 1969. GIMPA, which is made up of four schools and four short program centers, provides a diverse range of courses and academic programs, upon completion of which a candidate may be given a degree, diploma, or other credentials.
The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration is made up of four faculties, and four short-term program centers. These faculties and centers provide academic programs such as Bachelors Degrees (BA/BSc), Postgraduate Diplomas/Certificates, Masters Degrees (MA/MSc), Doctorate Degrees (Ph.D.), Certificates, and Short Programs.
Students have the choice of running the programs on a regular, evening, or weekend basis, as appropriate.
7. University for Development Studies
The University for Development Studies (UDS) is Ghana’s first public university in the country’s northern region. It was established by the Government of Ghana through PNDC Law 279, which was published in the Gazette on May 15, 1992, with the following goals: to provide higher education to all persons suitably qualified and capable of benefiting from such education; to undertake research and promote the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and its application to the needs and aspirations of the people of Ghana, and to blend the academic world with that of the community in order to provide constructive interaction between the two for the total development of northern Ghana in particular and the country as a whole.
UDS’s pedagogical philosophy is claimed to have emerged from a new thinking in higher education emphasizing the necessity for universities as teaching and research institutions to have a more active role in addressing social problems (particularly in rural regions) in order to accelerate development.
The University has a pro-poor mission and constituency, which is reflected in its teaching, research, and outreach activities methods. The emphasis on practical, research-based, and field-based training is intended to contribute to poverty reduction and speed national development.
8. Valley View University
Valley View Institution is a private university with campuses in Oyibi (Accra), Kumasi (Ashanti), and Techiman (Sunyani) in Ghana. It is one of approximately 100 tertiary institutions run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide.
Valley View University is the first private university in Ghana to receive a Charter. On May 28, 2006, Valley View University was officially chartered by Ghanaian President John Kufuor. To be “Chartered,” an institution must be recognized by the president or legislature of Ghana. The institute’s laws, examination processes, and quality assurance criteria must be approved by parliament.
Valley View University is accredited by the Accrediting Association of Adventist Schools, Colleges, and Universities. Valley View University, therefore, joins a worldwide network of nearly 100 Adventist institutions and universities. The institution is also certified by Ghana’s National Accreditation Board for numerous certifications, diplomas, and degrees.
9. University of Mines and Technology
The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) is a public university in Tarkwa, Ghana’s Western Region.
UMaT was founded in 1952 as the Tarkwa Technical Institute. The university was renamed Tarkwa School of Mines in 1961 to assist train workers for Ghana’s mining sector. In 1976, UMaT joined the faculty of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). On October 1, 2001, UMaT was raised to the level of university college and renamed the Western University College of KNUST. By order of Parliament, UMaT became a full-fledged university in November 2004. (Act 677). The first group of students graduated in Tarkwa without traveling to KNUST for the ceremony in 2008. In honor of Paa Grant, the university was renamed George Grant University of Mines and Technology on January 12, 2018.
The university’s mission is to provide higher education in mining, petroleum, technology, and related disciplines through effective teaching and learning; to promote knowledge through active research and dissemination of information, and to offer professional services through extension activities to the mining and allied industries.
The mineral resources technology faculty is the only one in the West African sub-region for educating high-level employees in the mining sector, and it continues to attract students from the sub-region and throughout the African continent.
10. University of Health and Allied Sciences
Act 828 in December 2011 created the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho (UHAS) as a leading research and community service-oriented health educational institution. The university began with 154 students in September 2012. There are now 3,752 students (3,727 undergraduates and 25 postgraduates) and 611 staff. UHAS has the best staff-to-student ratio of all Ghanaian state institutions at 17:1.
UHAS is Ghana’s first public university and the country’s first state university solely committed to teaching healthcare professionals. The University offers eighteen (18) undergraduate programs across six (6) schools and one (1) institute: the School of Allied Health Sciences, the School of Basic and Biomedical Sciences, the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing and Midwifery, the School of Public Health, the School of Pharmacy, and the Institute of Health Research. The School of Sports and Exercise Medicine, School of Dentistry, Institute of Medical Education, and Institute of Traditional and Alternate Medicine are among the others that have yet to be founded.
UHAS promotes traditional principles that support lifelong learning and accomplishment. They think that academic achievement thrives in an environment of clear standards and seek to encourage a lifelong love of learning. They train pupils to be global citizens in a changing world and to comprehend and deal with change. Incorporated as a premier health institution committed to research and community service.
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