Private universities to increase lecturers salary, B and R allowances

Lecturers in private universities in the country will see a 20% increment in their basic salary this academic year, the Vice-Chancellor of the Catholic University of Ghana (CUG), Professor Daniels Obeng-Ofori has said.

In a Daily Graphic blog post sighted by Thisterm.com, the Catholic University Vice-Chancellor also said plans are underway for private universities to enhance the book and research allowances to make it more attractive for lecturers.

Professor Obeng-Ofori said the increment in the book and research allowances particularly for PhD holders, as well as the basic salary for lecturers, was aimed at attracting and retaining lecturers at private universities in the country.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the Vice-Chancellor said the salary boost forms part of measures put in place by the private sector tertiary institutions to halt lecturers, especially senior lecturers declining to teach in private universities.

He said lecturers refuse to teach in private universities amid low basic salaries and book and research allowances or poor conditions of service offered to them by the private institutions, a situation he said remains a major challenge.

“Sometimes, we sponsor the training of lecturers to obtain PhDs and they later abandon us to join public universities for better conditions of services,” the Catholic University of Ghana told the Graphic newspaper.

Advising lecturers aspiring to become senior lecturers and professors, the private Vice-Chancellor encouraged them to publish more as the only way they could be promoted to senior lecturers and professors was to do more publications.

Prof. Obeng-Ofori assured lecturers that the management of the private universities in the country would continue to provide them with incentives and motivate them to publish more research work.

Very soon, without a PhD, you cannot teach in any tertiary institution. We are strongly supporting the lecturers with Master’s degrees to enrol in PhD programmes

“Currently, CUG has about 16 lecturers with Master’s degrees, who have been enrolled in PhD programmes at the various stages of communication,” Professor Daniels Obeng-Ofori stated.

He said lecturers with Master’s degrees had only two years to enrol in PhD programmes after their appointment adding that it would be terminated if they failed to upgrade themselves within the two years of their appointment