The Ministry of Education has invited the leadership of the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) and the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to an urgent meeting today, Monday, October 12, 2026, to resolve the ongoing strike action.
The Ministry stated that it wants constructive dialogue aimed at an amicable resolution, urged all parties to attend in good faith, and expressed hope that the meeting will produce a positive outcome and a swift return to normal academic and administrative activities.
The Ministry said the meeting brings together the two bodies at the centre of the dispute. GAUA is the association whose members withdrew their services, while GTEC is the state regulator of tertiary education. The Ministry described the engagement as urgent, reflecting the pressure the strike has placed on university operations.
The statement said government remains committed to addressing the concerns of organised labour through the channels set up for that purpose.
“Government remains committed to addressing the concerns of organised labour through established negotiation mechanisms and constructive engagement.”
Ministry of Education
The wording places the invitation within government’s wider approach to labour disputes. It follows the talks that led the three pre-tertiary teacher unions to suspend their own strike, where the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) led negotiations on government’s behalf.
Appeal to GAUA Leadership
The Ministry asked everyone attending to treat the meeting with seriousness, given what is at stake beyond the negotiating table.
“Government also calls on all parties to approach the meeting in good faith and with a strong sense of responsibility, mindful of the impact of the ongoing industrial action on students, university communities and the broader national interest.”
Ministry of Education
By naming students and university communities, the statement acknowledges that the cost of the strike falls well beyond the parties involved.
Government urged the leadership of GAUA to seize the opportunity for meaningful engagement and to work with the relevant stakeholders towards an early resolution of the impasse.
The Ministry said it remains hopeful that the meeting will yield a positive outcome and facilitate a swift return to normal academic and administrative activities.
Strike Disrupts University Operations
The meeting comes as the strike affects the running of public universities. The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) announced in a statement on Friday, October 9, that it was postponing the reopening of its 2026/2027 academic year indefinitely because of the strike. The university had scheduled the start of the academic year for Tuesday, October 13, and said it would announce a new date in due course.
The University of Ghana’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor has also warned that the university’s academic calendar is at risk of disruption if the strike extends into this week, and registration of students at the university has been affected.
Administrators run the registration, records, examinations and other support systems on which teaching depends, which explains why a withdrawal of their services affects the academic calendar.
Vice-Chancellors Appeal for Resumption
On the same day, Vice-Chancellors Ghana (VCG) appealed to GAUA to suspend the action and return to work while negotiations continue. VCG said prolonged industrial action was disrupting university operations and threatening the academic calendar and could reverse progress made since the disruptions of the COVID-19 period.
The Vice-Chancellors said they had engaged the Minister for Education and that the FWSC had assured them of its commitment to resolving the outstanding issues.
GAUA’s dispute concerns remuneration and conditions of service. The association has said that its members have worked without conditions of service since 2008, and that its concerns remain unresolved despite engagements with government and the FWSC.
Attention now turns to the outcome of today’s meeting. For students waiting to register and for universities waiting to reopen, the key questions are whether GAUA agrees to suspend its action and whether government and GTEC can put a credible timetable for the association’s demands on the table.
A positive result would allow universities to return to normal administrative activities and begin recovering lost time. A failure to reach agreement would leave the academic calendars of institutions such as KNUST and the University of Ghana under further strain
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