The Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies (UPSA), Prof. Charles Barnor has blamed the recent impasse at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on the neglect of student leadership from the management of the affairs of the institution.

Prof Barnor indicated, the exclusion of students from decision making processes of the KNUST made them mistrust the system as trust plays a vital role in the cooperation of all social actors.

He observed, “The importance of trust in higher education policy and management has been given less attention. In the case of KNUST, it appears the critical component of trust was not given a prominent space in the management of the school.”

The UPSA Pro-Vice Chancellor urges heads of higher educational organisations in the country, particularly the tertiary institutions managers, to draw lessons from the KNUST saga to avoid issues in their schools.

According to him, both leaders and followers have critical roles to play in creating and sustaining trust-based relationships.

To avoid the recurrence of the KNUST incident, Prof Barnor calls for the “need to include student leaders in the participation and management of higher education.”

Prof. Barnor was speaking at the 2018 World Quality Day celebrations organized by the Total Quality Management students of the UPSA graduate School in Accra, themed "The role of leaders in building trust-based quality culture".