Cybersecurity must transition from being a “technical afterthought” to an integral part of institutional culture across all tertiary institutions in Ghana. This was the core message delivered by Professor Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), at the inaugural National Cybersecurity Education Conference.
Professor Jinapor cautioned that the capacity of the education system to withstand and recover from cyber disruptions will soon define the credibility of institutions, “just as accreditation defines their academic standard.”
The Director-General painted a picture of an escalating threat landscape, noting that cyber threats have grown in both sophistication and scale. He cited various forms of attack, including ransomware, phishing, identity theft, online misinformation, and the locally known cyber fraud, “sakawa,” which now reach even the smallest colleges with internet connectivity.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI), according to him has further complicated this environment, introducing serious risks of data manipulation and algorithmic bias that can critically affect academic integrity.
“These threats go beyond financial loss; they touch on academic freedom, intellectual property, and human dignity,” Professor Abdulai asserted. He stressed that universities hold research data critical to national development in health, energy, and agriculture that must remain protected. A breach in these sectors or in the records managed by colleges of education undermines national confidence in digital governance.
To combat these dangers, he stressed that GTEC is working in coverage with the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization, the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), and development partners to create a cohesive policy environment. The goal is to encourage curriculum reforms that integrate cybersecurity across all disciplines, ensuring that engineering students, teacher trainees, and business graduates alike can act responsibly in the digital domain.
He recognized the contribution of the CSA under the Cyber Security Act 2020, stating that its vision to build a resilient digital ecosystem complements GTEC’s aspiration to cultivate digitally literate and ethically responsible citizens.
The Director-General laid out a clear mandate for institutional leadership, they must allocate necessary resources for digital security infrastructure, establish clear policies for incident response, and train both staff and students to recognize and mitigate risk.
He emphasized that GTEC, through its regulatory oversight, will continue to ensure that cybersecurity readiness forms part of institutional quality assurance indicators.
Professor Abdulai emphasised that cyber resilience is fundamentally about people and principles. It speaks to the ability of individuals and institutions to anticipate, absorb, and adapt to digital shocks while protecting the rights of users.
“The notion of digital rights, the right to privacy, freedom of expression, and access to information is fundamental to democracy and academic inquiry,” he stated.
He called on tertiary institutions to balance innovation with ethics. In the pursuit of smart campuses and data-driven administration, they must ensure that surveillance technologies respect personal freedoms and that data collection complies with the law. To empower the nation’s young people, GTEC aims to align pedagogy with practice, integrating ethical hacking labs, digital forensic training, and data protection awareness into mainstream education.
Technical universities are urged to serve as innovation hubs for local cyber solutions, colleges of education must incorporate digital safety for future teachers, and research universities should lead Africa in evidence-based policy and innovation.
Professor Jinapor concluded by outlining a unified national vision, the Ministry of Communications provides policy direction, the CSA ensures enforcement and capacity, and GTEC ensures the human resource pipeline students, lecturers, and administrators is adequately prepared.
“Every institution that goes unprotected becomes a weak link in our national digital chain,” he warned. Yet, he saw an opportunity, Ghana’s youthful population and progressive environment give the nation an advantage to lead the continent in cyber security education and policy.
”The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission stands ready to play its part with conviction, collaboration, and foresight,” he concluded.
Story By: Eugenia Ewoenam Osei
