Africa Education Watch has called on the government to ensure that the proposed National University of Teacher Education delivers a measurable reduction in the cost of teacher training, arguing that the reform could immediately ease the financial burden on students by eliminating affiliation and examination charges currently paid to mentoring universities.
The education policy think tank said payments made to mentoring universities presently represent about 20 percent of the fees paid by students enrolled in Ghana’s Colleges of Education, creating an opportunity for the proposed university structure to generate direct financial savings for students if the existing intermediary arrangements are removed.
In a position paper issued on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, Eduwatch said the abolition of the current affiliation model should translate into tangible efficiency gains rather than simply result in the relocation of existing expenses from one institution to another.
The organisation cautioned that the creation of the National University of Teacher Education must not become an exercise in restructuring institutions while preserving the same financial burdens under different administrative arrangements.
It therefore urged the government to make cost reduction an explicit and measurable objective of the proposed reform, with clear benchmarks against which the financial impact of the new system can be assessed.
Eduwatch said the government should first identify the specific affiliation and examination expenses currently paid to the mentoring universities and clearly establish which of those charges would disappear once the proposed university assumes direct responsibility for awarding degrees to teacher trainees.
The organisation further warned that costs eliminated from the existing affiliation arrangement should not subsequently reappear as new charges imposed by the National University of Teacher Education.
It argued that transferring the same expenses to the proposed institution under different fee classifications would defeat one of the principal opportunities presented by the reform and would prevent students from benefiting from the efficiencies created by removing the intermediary system.
Eduwatch nevertheless expressed support for the broader proposal to establish the National University of Teacher Education as a public degree awarding federated university comprising Ghana’s 49 public Colleges of Education.
According to the organisation, the proposed institution could provide an opportunity to address several longstanding structural weaknesses within Ghana’s teacher education system, particularly the fragmented governance arrangements, uneven academic capacity, limited research activity and inadequate coordination among the Colleges.
At present, the 49 public Colleges of Education operate under separate governance structures while relying on six mentoring universities to perform degree awarding and other academic responsibilities.
Eduwatch believes that replacing this arrangement with a unified national university framework could create a more consistent system for academic standards, examinations, quality assurance, research, teacher preparation and professional development.
The organisation, however, stressed that institutional consolidation should not be regarded as an achievement in itself. Instead, the effectiveness of the proposed university should ultimately be judged by whether it improves the quality of teacher preparation, strengthens the Colleges, lowers financial costs for students and contributes to improved educational outcomes across the country.
Eduwatch consequently called for the government to establish a reliable and sustainable financing mechanism before the proposed university is fully operationalised.
It warned that reorganising the existing teacher education structure without providing sufficient financial resources could result in an administrative transformation that changes institutional arrangements without producing meaningful improvements in teaching, learning or teacher preparation.
The think tank said adequate financing would be essential to supporting the academic and institutional functions expected of the proposed university, including the recruitment and retention of qualified academic staff, faculty development, research, library resources, digital infrastructure and modern teaching and learning facilities.
It also identified practicum supervision, quality assurance and continuing professional development as areas that would require sustained financial investment if the new institution is to deliver the intended improvements in teacher education.
Eduwatch therefore encouraged the government to place academic quality and institutional capability ahead of administrative expansion as it develops the proposed reform.
The organisation maintained that the establishment of the National University of Teacher Education should be driven by the need to create a stronger, more coordinated and financially efficient teacher education system rather than simply by the desire to introduce a new institutional structure.
For students in Ghana’s Colleges of Education, the most immediate test of the reform could therefore be whether the removal of university affiliation arrangements translates into lower fees and reduced financial pressure.
For the wider education system, however, the more significant test will be whether the proposed university can strengthen academic standards, expand research capacity, improve teacher preparation and provide the institutional coordination required to produce better learning outcomes.
Eduwatch’s position consequently places both affordability and academic quality at the centre of the proposed transformation, arguing that NUTE should deliver not merely a new governance structure but a demonstrably stronger and more cost effective system for preparing Ghana’s future teachers.
