Professor Ahmed Jinapor — GTEC Secretary Common
The Excessive Court docket in Adentan has rejected a controversial directive issued by the Ghana Tertiary Schooling Fee (GTEC) to revoke the popularity of {qualifications} awarded by the Imperial College of Costa Rica (UNEM), ruling that the regulator had acted illegally and did not abide by the ideas of pure justice.
The judgment, handed down by Justice Kwame Gyamfi Osei on Could 28, 2026, represents a major victory for 23 teachers and specialists who challenged the GTEC’s resolution to limit the supply of doctoral {qualifications} in Ghana’s greater training sector.
The dispute arose following a directive issued by GTEC on November 5, 2025 stating that certificates awarded by UNEM can’t be used for instructing, appointment, promotion or profession development in Ghana’s greater training system.
The affected diploma holders, who obtained doctoral {qualifications} from Costa Rican establishments between 2017 and 2023, claimed that GTEC had beforehand assessed, licensed, and verified their {qualifications}, however then reversed course with out partaking with them or offering them with a possibility to be heard.
In its judgment, the courtroom agreed with the applicant, discovering that the Directive instantly affected the applicant’s rights {and professional} pursuits and that GTEC ought to have adopted due course of earlier than making such a far-reaching resolution.
“Since this letter instantly affected the applicant, the applicant ought to have been given a possibility to defend himself earlier than the certificates approval was revoked,” Decide Osei mentioned in his judgment.
The courtroom concluded that GTEC’s actions violated Article 23 of the 1992 Ghana Structure, which requires public administrations to behave pretty, fairly and in accordance with due course of when making selections affecting the general public.
The primary challenge earlier than the courtroom was whether or not GTEC had the authorized authority to revoke the popularity of {qualifications} already awarded and acknowledged inside Ghana’s training framework.
GTEC maintained that it was performing inside its statutory obligations to guard tutorial requirements and keep the integrity of upper training. The committee maintained that it had not fully invalidated the UNEM qualification, however solely restricted its future use for tutorial {and professional} functions inside Ghana’s greater training system.
Nonetheless, the candidates argued that they relied on GTEC’s early accreditation and validation of their {qualifications} to acquire tutorial appointments, safe promotions, and advance their skilled careers.
Justice Osei sided with the candidates and dominated that the GTEC can not retroactively undermine {qualifications} which have already been awarded and acknowledged.
In arriving on the resolution, the decide referred to Article 14 of the Nationwide Accreditation Fee (Accreditation of Increased Academic Establishments) Laws 2010 (LI 1984), which offers that revocation of an establishment’s accreditation shall not have an effect on the validity of levels awarded previous to the revocation.
Though GTEC argued that the beforehand awarded {qualifications} remained legitimate regardless of the establishment shedding its acknowledged standing, the courtroom discovered the Fee’s place to be inconsistent.
“It’s true that the certificates is obtained particularly for skilled and tutorial functions,” Justice Osei mentioned.
“So if the identical is invalidated or accepted in Ghana and can’t be used for these functions, what ought to it’s used for?”
The courtroom held that stopping graduates from utilizing their {qualifications} for employment, promotion, or tutorial development successfully disadvantaged them of their sensible worth, regardless that they maintained that they remained legitimate.
The courtroom additionally heard GTEC’s resolution to cancel the registration of OAA Consulting Restricted, UNEM’s native consultant in Ghana.
The candidates say the cancellations had been made with out following authorized procedures that require regulators to inform establishments earlier than sanctions are imposed and supply them with a possibility to deal with alleged violations.
They argued that the legislation requires six months’ discover in order that deficiencies will be corrected earlier than registration will be canceled.
Decide Osei thought of the proof and located that GTEC had did not show compliance with the mandatory procedural necessities earlier than canceling OAA Consulting’s registration.
The courtroom due to this fact dominated that the revocation was procedurally flawed and unlawful.
Moreover, Justice Osei held that GTEC’s subsequent resolution to revoke the popularity of the UNEM qualification was based mostly on that litigation and that the candidates had enough authorized standing to problem the revocation.
As a part of its judgment, the courtroom directed GTEC and all greater authorities performing underneath this Directive to revoke selections made in opposition to UNEM qualification holders awarded earlier than 20 October 2025.
The courtroom additionally restrained GTEC and the academic establishments from imposing the directive in opposition to affected graduates, formally revoking the directive and successfully nullifying it.
This ruling implies that holders of UNEM levels awarded earlier than the desired date can’t be denied appointments, promotions, instructional alternatives, or different skilled advantages underneath the Derecognition Directive.
Regardless of ruling in favor of the applicant on the substantive points, the courtroom declined to award damages.
Decide Osei famous that though the Directive was unlawful, the candidates had not supplied enough proof to indicate that employers and establishments had absolutely carried out the Directive in a way that resulted in quantitative financial losses worthy of compensation.
However, this judgment represents a major authorized setback for GTEC and is predicted to have far-reaching implications for the regulation and recognition of overseas nationals’ tutorial {qualifications} in Ghana.
