Dr Osei K. Darkwa, President of Ghana Technology University College (GTUC), has said the government should consider introducing online universities to reduce soaring costs associated with the operation of traditional ones.

He argued that huge capital outlays that went into building physical structures like lecture halls, residential halls, and libraries among others could be minimised with the adoption of online teaching and learning.

Dr Darkwa made the suggestion during a ceremony to award certificates to 70 lecturers of the university who successfully completed a two-week seminar on Online Teaching and Learning.

He said the impact of technology on modern economies demanded online teaching and learning models to be introduced in Ghana, to address the challenge of people relocating to cities to have access to higher educational institutions.

He said younger people were already hooked to internet tools like twitter, facebook and galaxies and stressed the need for the nation to speed up efforts to catch up with the technological world, saying “Ghana is lagging behind, and we need to leapfrog.”

The seminar is aimed at equipping lecturers with relevant skills in online teaching, and served as a platform for them to examine potential solutions to online teaching and pedagogy of digital education.