Country
Ghana
Which bodies have a remit over qualifications and continuing professional development in Ghana, where that remit stops, and what happens to a qualification arriving from outside.
The system in short
Ghana reorganised its education regulators in 2020, merging two bodies into a single tertiary education commission which now handles both accreditation and the evaluation of qualifications earned elsewhere. Technical and vocational qualifications sit in a separate eight-level framework with its own commission, and that framework is unusual in giving formal recognition to informal apprenticeship at its lowest two levels. Continuing professional development is set by the professional councils.
Is CPD required
The Medical and Dental Council’s CPD policy is mandatory for all medical and dental practitioners on the Provisional and Permanent Registers of the Council. Practitioners should accrue 15 credit points per annum from a minimum of three events, and newly registered practitioners on the permanent register must obtain credit points in ethics within the year of registration, with ethics recertification required every three years thereafter. The Council’s stated position is that practitioners must obtain the requisite number of CPD credits before renewal of registration, and the policy notes that penalties for defaulting have been introduced. The underlying statute is the Medical and Dental Act, 1972 (NRCD 91). The policy document itself was last revised in December 2015.
The qualifications framework
National TVET Qualifications Framework (NTVETQF)
Eight levels, administered by the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training: National Proficiency I and II, National Certificate I and II, the Higher National Diploma, and then Bachelor, Master and Doctor of Technology. The two proficiency levels at the bottom exist to recognise informal apprenticeship, which is a common way of learning a trade in Ghana and which most national frameworks do not account for at all. Higher education qualifications outside this framework are the responsibility of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission.
A qualification from outside the country
GTEC credential evaluation
The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission evaluates and establishes the equivalence of local and foreign qualifications, assessing a certificate, diploma or degree earned abroad against its Ghanaian equivalent. The service runs through the Commission’s credential evaluation system, and the Commission states that it does not accept applications relating to institutions that are not accredited by an authorised accrediting agency in their home country. The Commission was established under the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023), which received presidential assent on 21 August 2020 and merged the former National Council for Tertiary Education and National Accreditation Board into one body.
Bodies with a remit
Ghana Tertiary Education Commission
Accredits tertiary institutions and programmes, assures their quality, and evaluates credentials, including establishing the Ghanaian equivalence of qualifications earned abroad. Established under the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023).
Outside its remit: Technical and vocational qualifications on the NTVETQF, which are CTVET’s responsibility. Neither body sets CPD requirements for a profession.
Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training
Administers the eight-level National TVET Qualifications Framework, which is intended to bring national technical and vocational qualifications into a single unified framework and to create clear entry and exit points for learners.
Outside its remit: University awards, which are not placed on this framework and are GTEC’s territory instead.
Medical and Dental Council
Regulates medical and dental practitioners under the Medical and Dental Act, 1972 (NRCD 91), and operates the CPD policy that renewal of registration depends on.
Outside its remit: Other health cadres, such as physician assistants, which are covered by separate provisions, and other professions, which have their own bodies.
Where nothing covers you
Not yet checked
Only the medical and dental regulator has been read. Ghana’s other regulated professions set their own continuing professional development requirements, and those have not been checked. The comparative table entry covers medical and dental practice only.
No check recorded