NCHE Budget Leaps from $330,000 to Over $1million -Commission’s Boss Lauds Boakai, Unveils Strategic Plan

MONROVIA: The issue with most state parastatals, most of which proliferated over the last few years, is primarily their struggle with crippling budgetary situations, many surviving on mere payroll support, and therefore virtually unable to carry out their fiduciary responsibilities, and rendering them mere burden on taxpayers’ dollar. It seems one critical parastatal, the National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE), has graduated from that quagmire and is celebrating the ballooning of its annual budget from less than half a million to over a million United States Dollars in the current fiscal period. That catapulting transition, according to the Commission’s new Executive Director, has emboldened it to markedly step up its efforts in undertaking worthwhile activities and programs towards bettering the country’s troubled education sector. The Analyst reports.

The Executive Director of the National Commission on High Education (NCHE) has announced significant increment in its annual budget this year from US$330,394 to an impressive US$1.3 million.

Delivering a statement at Ministry of Information & Cultural Affairs (MICAT) Press Briefing, NCHE boss Professor Edward Lama Wonkeryor thanked President Boakai for the budgetary leap, reflecting on how he used to lament “series of challenges resulting from dismal budgetary support received by the NCHE over the years”.

“Today, before delving into the details of my presentation, I am pleased to appreciate Ambassador Dr. Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., President of the Republic of Liberia, for the bold steps taken to support higher education activities in the country by increasing the budget of the

Three Hundred and Thirty Thousand Three Hundred and Ninety-Four Dollars to One Million Thirty Thousand Three and Ninety-Four Dollars,” he said.

He said the Boakai intervention is “a singular but very significant demonstration of the Government’s enduring interest in transforming the educational image of the country to make it not only qualitative, but also competitive in the context of regional and continental educational standards”.

He added: “On behalf of the Secretariat of the NCHE, I extend heartfelt gratitude to the President Dr. Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr. and all contributing government functionaries, including the Legislature and the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, for this massive support to the NCHE and the higher education sector.”

Apparently emboldened by the budget increment, Professor Edward Lama Wonkeryor said the NCHE has developed an Activity Work Plan which articulates a number of strategic objectives aimed at holistically transforming the higher education system of the country.

The strategic transformational objectives, he said, were developed with reference to the 2022 Education Sector Plan (ESP), and they constitute NCHE’s deliverables for 2024 to 2026 in the context of the ESP.

One of the objectives is to strengthen quality assurance for higher education institutions that requires the launch of a vigorous campaign towards the establishment of quality assurance cells at each accredited institution, from whence the delivery of programs can be monitored at the institutional levels.

“This involves checking faculty quality, curriculum usefulness, lecturers’ attendances, and many others,” Prof. Wonkeryor said.

According to him, at the national level, the NCHE has already begun engagement with policymakers for support towards verification of credentials of staff within the higher education sector, with major focus on lecturers and management staff of our higher education institutions (HEIs).

The NCHE will also collaborate with the Civil Service Agency (CSA) in assessing the authenticity of employment status of staff within the higher education sector.

He further spoke of weeding out bogus and substandard institutions from the higher education system and ensuring compliance to standards by accredited institutions.

The NCHE Executive Director noted that this can be achieved through regular and systematic monitoring of universities and colleges to establish their compliance to guidelines and standards set by the NCHE.

“This is very important to battle the many quack colleges and universities that are regularly creeping at all levels of the Liberian society, with some offering Master’s degrees and PhD’s,” he asserted. “Our Quality Assurance Department has already commenced a vigorous campaign to identify and locate such institutions for the appropriate actions.”

Regarding the objective of “strengthening the regulatory authority of the NCHE to effectively manage the higher education sector” to Professor said his organization intends to establish a modernized headquarters from whence the NCHE will adequately and passionately coordinate and administer the activities of higher education.

He further divulged that his administration intends to revise the 1989 Act that created the National Commission on Higher Education as a means to build and upgrade the statutory capacity of the Commission for effective performance.

He said: “Our analyses and observations of past and current realities point to the need for elevating the NCHE to a Ministry to be able to achieve its colossal mandates.  This is in line with international best practices, which call for higher education to be managed by a ministry with cabinet status.  As part of this objective, also, we will develop and roll out code of conduct for higher education staff to guide against unwholesome conducts in the discharge of their duties.”

Other objectives the NCHE is poised to implement include Establishing partnerships and collaboration with the public and private sector through Public and Private Partnerships (PPPs) to enhance offer, creating an enabling environment for safe and inclusive access to HE institutions and integrating digital technology in higher education.

Professor Edward Lama Wonkeryor said his administration is working to equip universities and colleges with functioning IT infrastructure, including computers, Internet connectivity, online learning facilities, e-libraries by 2026.

“In furtherance of this, we have included IT fundamentals in our revised College Required Courses for Freshman and Sophomore Students in Higher Education, and we will work with accredited institutions to develop their IT programs in line with the 2022 Education Sector Plan.  Universities and colleges will be encouraged to establish online learning platforms, with e-libraries to enhance students’ learning.”