The government has moved to get Ghana's public universities back in session. Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has directed the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to ask public universities to announce reopening dates so that academic work can start on Monday, according to a report by MyJoyOnline.
The minister gave the directive on Monday, October 12, 2026, after meeting the leadership of the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA), TUSAAG and GTEC.
According to MyJoyOnline, Iddrisu said he wants universities to reopen "not later than the weekend" so that teaching can begin at the start of next week. He did not give specific reopening dates for individual institutions.
The University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) had both postponed their scheduled reopening dates because of the strike, the report says.
"We will do everything possible to preserve the calendar," the minister said, describing the current academic calendar as the best in five years.
No decision to suspend the strike had been announced at the end of Monday's meeting. MyJoyOnline reports that the associations must first consult their members. Iddrisu said he was optimistic that GAUA would suspend its action in the coming days.
He also made clear that his ministry was acting as a facilitator rather than negotiating pay. "The Minister for Education has no mandate for salary negotiations," he said.
GAUA began its strike on August 10, 2026. It was briefly suspended and then reactivated on September 15, according to MyJoyOnline.
At the heart of the dispute is the Interim Market Premium (IMP), an allowance paid to senior members of public universities. GAUA says a 2012 Compulsory Arbitration Award set parity between senior teaching and non-teaching staff at 114 per cent of basic salary. The association argues that the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has since received an increase in its market premium, while GAUA's has not changed.
Because GAUA members run key administrative functions, the strike has disrupted admissions, student registration and the allocation of accommodation across public universities. Talk Talk reported last month that registration for first-year students at the University of Cape Coast had been halted because of the strike.
For thousands of fresh students and their families, the delays have meant weeks of uncertainty, with travel plans, rent and fees on hold while they wait for campuses to open.
GAUA represents senior administrative staff in Ghana's public universities, including registrars, finance officers and other officers who manage admissions, records, examinations and student services. Their work is essential to the start of every academic year, which is why a strike by the association can stall reopening even when lecturers are ready to teach.
Pay disputes and strikes by staff associations have disrupted Ghana's public universities many times over the years, often around the start of the academic calendar. Lecturers, administrators and senior staff have each used industrial action to press demands over allowances, conditions of service and the implementation of earlier agreements.
Each disruption pushes back exams, graduations and admissions, and parents and student leaders have repeatedly called for faster ways to resolve such disputes without closing campuses.
All eyes are now on GAUA's members, who must decide whether to accept the government's position and suspend the strike. If they do, public universities are expected to announce reopening dates in the coming days, in line with the minister's directive.
If the strike continues, it is unclear how universities would be able to complete registration and other administrative processes in time for lectures next week. Talk Talk will follow the outcome of the consultations.
