The Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) says it will consult its members on the outcome of talks with the Education Ministry before deciding whether to suspend its two-month-long strike.
The association is expected to communicate its decision after Tuesday, October 13, 2026, although it has not announced a specific date for the consultation.
The position follows a meeting on Monday at the Ministry of Education in Accra involving GAUA leadership, the Technical University Senior Administrators Association of Ghana (TUSAAG), the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and the Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Iddrisu expressed optimism that the strike would be called off in the coming days and directed GTEC to ask public universities to announce their reopening dates towards the weekend.
He said the government wanted academic work to resume on Monday, October 19, to avoid further disruption to the academic calendar.
“It is my expectation that the universities can reopen towards the weekend and not later than the weekend so that academic work can begin on Monday so that we don’t lose the academic calendar to the strike and its impact,” he said.
The Minister appealed to GAUA and TUSAAG leadership to consider the impact of the industrial action on students and allow normal academic activities to resume.
“What I want is to request GAUA to consider calling off their strike action for normal academic work to proceed and continue throughout all our university campuses across Ghana and public universities,” he said.
GAUA leadership has indicated that it cannot unilaterally suspend the strike without consulting its members.
The association’s constitution requires major decisions, including the suspension of industrial action, to be ratified by the membership.
GAUA President Rev. Kwaku Amoah Karikari had earlier said that if agreement was reached on the market premium issue, the association would consult its national executives and take a decision.
The outcome of Monday’s meeting will now be communicated to members for consideration.
GAUA’s strike began on August 10 and was reactivated on September 15 after a brief suspension. It centres on disparities in the Interim Market Premium (IMP) paid to teaching and non-teaching senior members.
The association says a 2012 Compulsory Arbitration Award established parity at 114 per cent of basic salary. However, it argues that while the market premium for members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has since increased, GAUA’s has remained unchanged.
According to the figures cited in the dispute, a teaching senior member receives an average market premium of about GH¢10,000, compared with approximately GH¢4,718 for a non-teaching senior member — a difference of GH¢5,282.
The strike has disrupted administrative operations at public universities, including admissions, registration and accommodation allocation. The University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have postponed their scheduled reopenings.
The resumption of academic activities will depend on the outcome of GAUA’s consultations and whether the association agrees to suspend the strike.