The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has refuted a story about its operations having been suspended by the Nigerian Federal government.
UCC said it had no direct operations in Africa's most populous nation neither had it given a franchise for its programmes to be run in the country.
This was in response to a story carried by GhanaWeb citing media reports in Nigeria that three Ghanaian universities had been banned by the country's National Universities Commission (NUC).
"The University of Cape Coast (UCC) does not have any outlet or campus operating in Nigeria, neither has it granted franchise to any institution in Nigeria to run its programmes.
"All international students, including Nigerians, wishing to study at UCC apply directly to the University for consideration," their statement dated January 4, 2024 read in part.
The statement further pointed out that UCC was different from the Cape Coast University (CCU) purportedly banned in Nigeria.
It also reassured members of the university community to disregard the publication.
UCC PRESS STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, 04 JANUARY, 2024.
RE: UCC OPERATIONS IN NIGERIA BANNED
Cape Coast, Thursday, 4th January, 2024: The attention of Management of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has been drawn to a false news item on Ghanaweb, indicating that the operations of the University of Cape Coast have been banned in Nigeria.
‘The University wishes to refute the allegations as follows:
1. The University of Cape Coast (UCC) does not have any outlet or campus operating in Nigeria, neither has it granted franchise to any institution in Nigeria to run its programmes.
2. All international students, including Nigerians, wishing to study at UCC apply directly to the University for consideration.
3. It is interesting to note that, in a haste to drag the image of the University in the mud, Ghanaweb, with little information and without crosschecking, quickly ran to the market with the name of a certain Cape Coast University (CCU) to represent the solid brand of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
4. Management wishes to assure its cherished stakeholders and the general public that the University holds very dear its solid brand as an excellent academic institution with world-wide acclaim and, for that matter, would not do anything untoward to tannish its hard-won reputation ‘as the Number One University in Ghana and West Africa, and the Seventh in Africa, according to the 2024 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.
5. We would entreat all persons and institutions, as we have always done, to, at all times, verify with the university, the authenticity of certificates purported to have been issued by the University of Cape Coast.
In the light of the above, Management wishes to entreat its stakeholders and the public to disregard the malicious publication.
Major Kofi Baah-Bentum (Rid), Psc, APR
DIRECTOR, DIRECTORATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
-END-
About Nigerian ban o three universities
Three Ghanaian universities were listed among a set of 18 banned by the Nigerian federal government over stated infractions.
The three are the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana; Cape Coast University, Ghana and privately run Volta University College, Ho.
In total, the government banned 18 foreign universities operating in Nigeria, describing them as “degree mills," warning Nigerians to avoid enrolling in such institutions.
Announcing the ban in a statement published on its website, the National Universities Commission (NUC) explained that the Federal Government had not licensed the affected universities and they had been closed down.
The statement read in part: "The National Universities Commission wishes to announce to the general public, especially parents and prospective undergraduates that the under-listed “degree mills” have not been licensed by the Federal Government and have therefore been closed down for violating the Education (National Minimum Standards, etc.) Act of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004."
The move followed an investigative piece by a journalist that exposed how universities in neighbouring Benin and Togo were giving out degrees in a space of six weeks in a process marred with corruption.
SARA
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University of Cape Coast main entrance | File photo