Two universities have postponed their reopening dates indefinitely due to uncertainties surrounding the return of university administrators to their offices.
The strike by the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) is affecting registration, accounting work, human resources, corporate affairs and related clerical work done by the university’s front and back office administration staff.
The universities are the University of Ghana (UG) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), which had scheduled today and tomorrow, respectively, as their reopening dates.
GAUA, which comprises senior administrative staff, including registrars, admission officers, finance officers, and student affairs officers, laid down their tools over unresolved concerns relating to conditions of service, allowances and what the association describes as unfair treatment compared to other staff categories within the universities.
With administrators off post, critical university operations, including admissions, academic records management, registration, accommodation allocation and payroll management have ground to a halt.
UG, KNUST postpone reopening
In a statement issued last Saturday and signed by the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs, Professor Gordon A. Awandare, the management of UG announced the postponement of the reopening of the university.
"The Management of the University of Ghana wishes to inform all students that the reopening of the university for the 2026/2027 academic year, initially scheduled for Monday, October 12, 2026, has been postponed.
“A revised date for the reopening of the University will be announced in due course," the statement said.
In similar fashion, KNUST, in a statement issued last Friday and signed by the University Relations Officer, Dr Daniel Norris Bekoe, announced the postponement of the reopening of the university until a new date is communicated.
"The University Management wishes to inform students, parents/guardians, and the public that the reopening of the university for the 2026/2027 Academic Year, originally scheduled for 13th October 2026, has been postponed indefinitely.
"This decision has become necessary in view of the ongoing strike action by the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) and its impact on the university's effective operations and administration," the statement added.
The universities advised students, parents and the public to monitor the official websites of the universities and other media channels for updates on the new reopening date.
The Inter-University Conference and government are yet to announce a breakthrough in negotiations with GAUA.
Parents and guardians who had made travel and financial arrangements for their children and wards to report to campus on October 12 and 13 are now left in limbo.
Daily Graphic’s checks with many other public universities indicate that they have not yet reached a decision to postpone their resumption dates.
The University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) has not postponed the date for the reopening of the 2026/27 academic year, its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Lydia Aziato, said in an interview, reports Alberto Mario Noretti.
She told the Daily Graphic yesterday that admissions were still ongoing and many of the fresh students were already at their halls of residence.
Prof. Aziato said UHAS was optimistic that the meeting between the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, and the Vice Chancellors Ghana scheduled for today, would yield positive results and lead to an end to the strike by the administrative staff of the universities.
Background
The education sector has seen a number of industrial unrest in recent times.
The pre-tertiary teacher unions suspended their industrial action last Friday after the intervention of the Council of State, after declaring a sit-down strike on September 25 this year.
The Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) has also declared an intended strike in the coming days.
Impact on freshers' admission
The GAUA strike is having the heaviest toll on the admission of fresh students for the 2026/2027 academic year.
In both universities, cumulatively over 90,000 students, including thousands of WASSCE graduates who have been offered admission, are stranded as administrative processes for medical examinations, verification of results, enrolment, fee payment, and allocation of residential accommodation have been suspended.
Gilbert Mawuli Agbey reports from Kumasi that the ongoing industrial action of GAUA has disrupted academic activities for the 2026/2027 academic year of KNUST.
However, at the University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (USTED), the new academic year began on October 3, 2026, but the university has also been negatively impacted by the strike action.
In an interview, the GAUA Chairman at USTED, John Bosco Kwasi Fiave, said all members of the association were not participating in any of their core responsibilities, thereby disrupting administrative activities.
He said in their absence, management of the university had impressed upon some teaching staff to perform some of the tasks of the administrators, which they were finding difficult to do since it was not part of their mandate.
“We are waiting for the outcome of a meeting between the national leadership and the Minister of Education on Monday for the next line of action,” Mr Fiave said.
Some of the students the Daily Graphic interacted with said that they were waiting anxiously for the strike to be called off so that activities within the universities could run smoothly as expected.
Particularly, students at KNUST appealed for the suspension of the strike action and cautioned that, if it prolongs, it would obviously disrupt the academic calendar.
At UG, the online registration portal remains open, but physical report to school, orientation for Level 100 students, and academic advisory services cannot proceed without the administrators.
Daily Graphic’s checks indicate that the entire admission processing chain, including the finalisation of admission lists and issuance of admission letters for some programmes, has been affected.
