Dr Opoku-Prempeh said government had agreed to give post retired lecturers contract for Professorial grade up to the age of 70 and non-Professorial grade to the age of 65 in tertiary institutions.

The Minister, who announced this at a press briefing in Accra, said government had announced new rules to guide post-retirement contracts for academic staff at the country's public universities.

The Minister stated that under the new regulations, Senior Lecturers shall be eligible for post-retirement contract on a 2+2+1 basis only up to the age of 65, subject to need and good health.

Also specific provision would be made for compensation for all staff on post-retirement contract and such staff shall be clearly designated and accounted for separately as contract staff in the annual budget of the institution.

Explaining the rationale behind this, the Minister stated that it had become necessary as part of measures to bolster and maintain a critical mass of key academic staff to support the anticipated increase in tertiary enrolment as a consequence of the free Senior High School Programme.

Dr Opoku-Prempeh said in view of that, the National Council on Tertiary Education was tasked to develop and deploy a mechanism for monitoring output in those areas following implementation of the new regime for post-retirement contracts.

He said government had restored and increased the Book and Research grant component from GHc 500 to GHc 1500 for University Teachers' Association of Ghana (UTAG) members, an increase of 200 per cent of the fund.

He said government had put before Parliament the Ghana National Fund Bill to bring in more investment and funds to support research in the country.

Dr Opoku-Prempeh said the Ministry would continue to engage stakeholders on the Public University Bill to make it better, stressing that government had nothing to hide in advocating the bill.

"Government will like to acknowledge the role of UTAG in making the bill a better one than what was originally envisaged. We will continue to work with UTAG and other interested stakeholders to improve the Bill".