The University of Professional Studies, Accra formerly known as Institute of Professional Studies, is a public university in Ghana. The main campus is located in Accra. UPSA is the first university in Ghana to provide both academic and business professional education. The University of Professional Studies Act, 2012 changed the name of the Institute of Professional Studies to University of Professional Studies. UPSA is nationally and internationally accredited by the National Accreditation Board and the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs respectively. It introduced the dual qualification scheme for its students ahead of the 2019/20 academic year. With this new system, the students will be required to complete a chartered program such as the ACCA, ICAG, CIM, CIMA, ICSA and others, by the end of their degree study to better enhance their chances of employment in the job market.
History
The university was founded in 1965 as a private professional business education tuition provider and was taken over by government in 1978 by the Institute of Professional Studies Decree, 1978. It was subsequently established as a tertiary institution with a mandate to provide tertiary and professional education in Accountancy, Management and other related areas of study by the Institute of Professional Studies Act,, 1999. The then IPS had been offering tuition for business professional programmes. In September 2005, the then institute introduced bachelor's degree programmes to give meaning to the IPS Act 566. It received a Presidential Charter in September 2008, conferring on it the status of a fully-fledged public university. The University offers undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in several programmes. The development of the programmes coupled with trends in tertiary education at both local and international levels called for an amendment of the existing Act 566 of 1999. Subsequently, the University of Professional Studies Act, 2012 was enacted to rename the institute as University of Professional Studies, Accra. UPSA has recently introduced “dual qualification scheme” for student for the 2019/2020 academic year. The policy is to make students who enroll in a degree programme to simultaneously and compulsorily pursue a corresponding professional programme such as ACCA, ICAG, CIM, CIMA, ICSA among others as an additional course thus graduating with both a degree and a chartered certificate. Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey explained the new policy at the of the University.
