University students eager to begin the new academic year will have to wait a while longer as discussions to bring their lecturers back to the classroom failed to produce any concrete result.

It has been a very busy first week for Haruna Iddrisu as Employment Minister.

The Minister is attempting to bring harmony to the education sector, after successfully securing an end to strike by Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG).

But efforts to convince members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) Thursday to call off their strike seem to be proving difficult despite backing by university Vice Chancellors.

The lecturers failed to commit to a deal yesterday after they were offered what some of them describe as an improved deal.

Last Tuesday Haruna Idrissu hinted that UTAG will be offered the same deal as POTAG – payment of their 2013/2014 book and research allowance arrears and discussions opened for future research funding.

The parties made up of the education ministry, the fair wages and salaries commission, the national council for tertiary education and the Finance Ministry representing government and UTAG are due to return next Tuesday for further talks.

For now, it remains uncertain if academic work can commence in our public universities any time soon.