UDS charges unapproved levies after signing questionable MoU with students

The School of Business at the University for Development Studies (SoB-UDS) in Tamale has, since 2024, been collecting levies from students without obtaining the statutory approvals required by law.

The Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2022 (Act 1080) requires all tertiary institutions to seek and obtain Parliamentary approval before they introduce new fees and charges.

In clear violation of the law, the SoB-UDS rather signed a sneaky Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the then leadership of the Business Students Association (BUSA) on October 22, 2024, to ‘legitimize’ the collection of the levies.

According to the terms of the MoU, each student is obliged to pay an annual “Development Levy” of GHS150.00.  The levy “is intended to support various developmental projects and initiatives within SoB-UDS and its departments.”

“In addition to the Development Levy, students of the School Business shall pay an Industrial Attachment Support Levy of Three Hundred Ghana Cedis (GHS300.00),” the MoU states, explaining that this “levy shall be used to support activities related to the coordination and management of the students’ industrial attachment, including but not limited to placement facilitation, supervision and assessment, maintenance of a database of host organisations, and provision of attachment documentation where necessary.”

Meanwhile, in the approved regular fee schedule, the students already pay a fee component for this same item, captured differently as the Third Trimester Field Practical Programme (TTFPP), which is GHS 84.53.

So far, payment slips sighted by The Fourth Estate show that students have paid the two levies into the Ecobank and Access Bank accounts of “UDS School of Business.”  

Students appeal for reduction of Industrial Attachment Support Levy

After months of resisting the levies amid threats from management, course representatives of SoB-UDS came together and wrote a letter to the Dean of School of Business on January 29, 2026, appealing for a reduction of the industrial attachment levy of GHS300.00. However, they are yet to receive a favourable response from the University.  

Several students who spoke to The Fourth Estate on condition of anonymity said the levies are putting heavy financial burdens on them.

“When we gained admission to the University, these levies were not part of our fees,” one student said. “As a result, we also didn’t inform our parents. Now, when we talk to them about the levies, they think we are trying to extort money for personal use, which isn’t the case.”

Another student said, “An amount of GHS300.00 or GHS 150.00 may appear little, but for those of us from low-income families, who choose a pro-poor university like UDS for our tertiary education, such amounts are not easy to come by.”

To ensure all levies are collected from the students, the University has decreed that students who do not pay are not allowed to graduate.

“The worst part is that students who fail to pay these levies are not given clearance to graduate upon completion of their programmes,” a student lamented.

Sources within the University have told The Fourth Estate many faculties have been collecting similar levies for some years now, while others are now introducing them.

For instance, the Faculty of Education has been cited for collecting unapproved levies for many years now. Pay-in slips sighted by The Fourth Estate showed that the faculty collects an annual levy of GHS300.00 per student for practical fieldwork. The money is paid into the faculty’s Agricultural Development Bank with the account name “UDS Faculty of Education.”

When contacted, the President of the Student Representative Council of UDS, Moses Azure, confirmed that students from different faculties had reported the collection of the unapproved levies to him. However, he had yet to look into the issues.

Industrial Attachment Coordinator on tape

In a 50-minute audio recording of a meeting held with the students on February 14, 2026, and available to The Fourth Estate, Industrial Attachment Coordinator of SoB-UDS, Abdul Mumin Mubarik, is heard justifying the imposition of the industrial attachment levy as he claimed the University does not give the lecturers sufficient money to go on supervision. “If I am going to do industrial attachment supervision, maybe it’s just GHCS 800.00 they [management] will give me to use for [transportation].”

He subsequently dismissed a call by the students for the levies to be added to their tuition fees because it would require Parliamentary approval.

“Even at the level of the Dean, he cannot take that decision. Do you know that when we are going to pass the fees, it has to go through Parliamentary approval?

Response from the University

In written responses to The Fourth Estate’s interview request, the Director of Public Affairs of UDS, Abdul-Hayi Moomen, confirmed the SoB-UDS indeed collects the levies.

He said the levies were introduced following consultations between the School of Business and the Business Students Association (BUSA) through an MoU.  

In addition, he pointed out that “some faculties across the University charge faculty-based levies to support academic and student-related services that are not fully covered under centrally approved tuition and facility fees. These charges are not unique to the School of Business. Across universities in Ghana, faculties commonly introduce modest levies to support specific academic or administrative services within their units.”

When questioned whether the levies were approved by Parliament as required by the Fees and Charges Act, 2022 (Act 1080), Mr Moomen suggested that the levies did not require statutory approvals.

“Statutory academic fees, such as tuition and major facility fees, are approved through the appropriate university governance structures and, where required, government oversight mechanisms,” he said. “Faculty-level service levies, however, are administrative charges introduced within academic units to support specific student services or academic activities.”

GTEC’s response

On the face of it, these levies may appear legitimate because there is an MoU covering their collection. However, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), the regulator of tertiary education in Ghana, says any fees, levies, or charges emanating from public universities must first be approved in accordance with the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2022 (Act 1080).

The Director of Corporate Affairs at GTEC, Jerry Sarfo, said that although the Commission frowns upon the collection of unapproved fees and levies by public tertiary institutions, it had not been informed that UDS was collecting levies without approval.    

“It hasn’t been brought before the Commission yet,” he said. “We can assure you that if such things are brought before the Commission, it will be thoroughly investigated. And where it doesn’t conform to the Fees and Charges Act, we would address it, and ask them to refund it where necessary.”      

Legal perspective

Private legal practitioner, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, told The Fourth Estate that the signing of the MoU by the student leadership with the University was not supported by any legal framework.

“There is no basis for it,” he said.