Long before “student experience” became a defining phrase in global higher education, Kobby Yebo-Okrah, then Registrar of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi (2006–2015) was already advancing a systems-level vision of what it meant to educate the whole student.
In a 1996 paper published in the Journal of Science and Technology (JUST), titled Administration of Student Services at the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, Mr. Yebo-Okrah examined how student services shape institutional culture, academic outcomes and national development.
He framed student services not as peripheral activities but as a core extension of the university’s educational mandate. Drawing on the in loco parentis tradition, Yebo-Okrah argued that the University’s responsibility extended beyond teaching and research to include students’ moral, social, psychological and residential development.
“The provision, the proper functioning and the efficient administration of student services,” he wrote, “may be an essential part of the educational institution’s responsibility”
Mr. Yebo-Okrah described accommodation, health services, counselling, student governance and recreation as interconnected pillars of student development. He paid particular attention to the hall system, portraying it as a living classroom where leadership, discipline and community values were cultivated alongside academic learning.
“Residential life,” he noted, “plays an important role in the life and development of many college students,” especially within a predominantly residential institution such as UST .
Writing at a time of rapid enrolment growth and national higher-education reform, Mr. Yebo-Okrah did not overlook institutional constraints. He documented strains on health services, gaps in counselling provision, and tensions arising from residential and catering reforms, challenges that continue to confront universities across Africa.
Yet his concern was not merely operational. He repeatedly returned to the question of administrative intent, asking whether universities were willing to align structures, staffing and funding with the developmental needs of students.
“If student services are to achieve their purpose,” he cautioned, “the calibre of personnel, the administrative framework and the resources available must be carefully considered”.
One of the paper’s most forward-looking arguments was its treatment of students as active institutional stakeholders.
By highlighting the role of the Student Representative Council (SRC) and other student bodies, Mr. Yebo-Okrah underscored the importance of participation, dialogue and shared responsibility in university governance.
Students, he observed, often act as “the conscience of society” during their time at the university, a role that calls for structured engagement rather than exclusion.
Nearly three decades on, Mr. Yebo-Okrah’s analysis chimes like a church bell. Questions he raised remain unresolved in many higher education institutions in the country: how universities balance expansion with care, how central student services are to academic excellence, and how education can be administered humanely.
Revisiting his work invites renewed reflection on the everyday systems that support students; systems that continue to shape KNUST’s global reputation for quality education.
By Emmanuel Kwasi Debrah
