The Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology (KNUST) has downplayed research findings suggesting lecturers
demand sexual favours from female students in exchange for academic
grades.

Prof Kwesi Kwarfo Adarkwa said in his almost eight-year tenure from his
days as Pro-Vice Chancellor, he has yet to witness any such case, and
discounting the report as lacking merit.

The report attributed to the United Kingdom’s Centre for Higher Education
and Equity Research concludes that university male lecturers in Ghana and
Tanzania consider it their right to demand sex for grades.

It is published on the Times Higher Education website titled: “Sex, grades
and power – Gender Violence in Africa Higher Education.

The report quotes researchers John Morgan and Cathy Lucia as saying they
encountered widespread reports of sexual harassment of females during their
separate projects.

According to them, the situation has led to what they described as
“negative female learner identities.” This means if students fail in an
examination, it is seen as an evidence of their lack of their academic
ability and preparedness for higher education. If they achieve academic
excellence it is attributed to prostitution.

The report also concludes that the high assumption by male students of
prostitution among their female peers has diminished women’s achievements.

The paper quotes an academic manager in a Ghanaian university as saying
sexual harassment is a way of life on campus and female students on campus
are vulnerable to lecturers.

Asked whether he has ever witnessed incidents of sexual abuse by male
lecturers on campus, Prof Adarkwa said “since I came to this university, I
don’t recollect any case of this nature. I think if we had incidences like
this on our campuses, the students would have really gotten up to complain
and if you don’t listen to them, they would then complain and if you don’t
listen to them, they would then complain. So far, we haven’t had anything
like this in our university and I think that the research conclusions are a
little bit over-generalized.”

Prof Adarkwa related that female students are outperforming their male
counterparts.

The university’s quality assurance office ensures students get quality
education, he said.

However, a family life counselor and lecturer at the engineering faculty,
Vincent Akwaa thinks differently.

According to the lecturer, his encounter with female students indicates
widespread harassment from male lecturers, and points out that some female
students who face academic challenges approach lecturers for such favours.

Some students who spoke to Luv News said the harassment of female students
by male lecturers is real.

“It’s not a perception; it’s a reality. It goes on on every campus and the
lecturers cannot deny it,” one student said.

A male student said some female students confess “What am I a woman for”
when asked to study their books.