He has thus challenged graduate students to apply the knowledge they acquire in solving demanding socio-economic situations in the society, saying that will justify the investment made into their studies.

The acclaimed scholar  said, “The post-graduate degree would affect your persistence, determination, intellectual prowess and your ability to handle challenging situations; these qualities are of great importance to employers.”

Sir Dr. Sam Jonah threw the challenge on Saturday, in his address at the 6^th Session of the Congregation of the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Cape Coast.

The Congregation for the School of Graduate Studies for the year 2017, recorded 1,307 men and women, passing out with doctorate and master’s degrees across different disciplines.

The Chancellor reminded graduates that, passing out as a post-graduate student comes with higher expectations from the local community level to the international level, saying, “Your community and the nation are looking up to you, and the future of the nation rests on your shoulders”.

He stated that, as prospective employees, holders of graduate degrees would be expected to possess the qualities of “stamina, discipline, leadership and the ability to work well with others” in order to demonstrate success in the long-term situation, and that such qualities make them have greater opportunities for growth.

“For this level of achievement, no one would accept excuses or mediocrity from you, and brace yourselves for action, and if I may say so, act now”, Sir Dr. Sam Jonah added.

Of the five colleges that presented finalists for the post-graduate studies, the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, had the least female number of sixty-five, out of a total of two hundred and twenty-four from that college.

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By: Joseph Ackon-Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, chiefs must be initiators of development projects.

Speaking at a public lecture at Assorku in the Shama District of the Western Region to commemorate the one year anniversary of the chief of Assorko, Nana Brekrom II, Prof. Sam-Amoah, who is also the Provost at the College of Agricultural and Natural Sciences at the University of Cape Coast, noted that chiefs are in a position to demand corporate social responsibility projects to improve the living standards of their people.

He said “there is no company or organization that will operate in a community without getting land from the chiefs. In return, chiefs could demand for corporate social responsibility projects that will elevate the status of their people. When the sources of livelihood of the people are developed, it brings relief to the people, in the area of financial liberation. Our chiefs must encourage companies in their operational areas to invest in social intervention programs. That will help our communities to develop”.

Prof Sam-Amoah believes chiefs are important stakeholders to drive development in communities even though they are not as powerful as they used to be.

He encouraged all chiefs to emulate the steps taken by Nana Brekrom II, who has written a book outlining his vision for Assorkorman.

The book titled: “Doing our part for the community we aspire” is a 24 page simplified masterpiece which spells out how traditional leaders can rethink and envision their communities.

“It’s a step in the right direction which we will encourage our chiefs to emulate. It helps avoid disjointed courses of development for communities, and also deals with the loss of vision when one leader passes on to eternity. I am impressed with the step Nana Brekrom II has taken to follow the path of his predecessor Nana Brekrom I”. Prof. Sam-Amoah observed.

Among topics in the book are “a look through my own eye: my ten inspirations, the makeup of the community we aspire, the bits and parts to play, the time we must give ourselves, the new mindset, and what we stand to lose if we fail to develop”.

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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Akufo-Addo said this at the graduation ceremony of some medical doctors at the University of Cape Coast on Saturday.

The directive comes after a long drawn dispute between the University of Ghana and some players in the banking sector over some loans that were contracted to undertake projects at the university.

“I think we should learn from previous and unfortunate bitter experience that such arrangement should not be done on the blind side of the government. I will strongly urge if you have not already done so, that you seek the blessing of the Ministry of Finance and the office of the Attorney General to the arrangement,” Nana Addo stated.

“There is currently a difficult situation at the University of Ghana that should serve as a useful lesson for all public tertiary institutions which seek to engage in such arrangements.”

CAL Bank hauled the University of Ghana to court in 2015 over the non-payment of some money owed the bank.

According to the bank at the time, the decision was due to the delay in the repayment of the loan facility that the bank granted the institution towards the provision of about 7000 bed capacity hostel facilities.

At the time, the MD of the bank had said that government was not committed to the repayment process.

“We did have significant real estate exposure three years back and three years on we still have some exposure. The significant portion of it is being paid or it is still current, but we still have a situation with UGEL, the hostels the situation there is that the hostel is occupied and the students pay the residential user fees but the University does not service the facility.”

“There have been several meetings on it and government has decided to take over and settle the six banks involved, we haven’t seen the government, seen the steps as expected in settling that debt so we have taken the decision to go to court so very soon CAL bank will own 12,500 beds,” he said.

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By: Jeffrey Owuraku Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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He said they shouldn’t see that as a punishment but a way of contributing their quota to the development of Ghana.

Ghana’s doctor to patient ratio currently stands at one doctor to 8,000 patients a situation the president described as “woefully inadequate.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”6DVcAIPCBiZ81TiSMpd7C0xuigQuZBU8″]The President made the comment while speaking at the congregation ceremony for medical students at the University of Cape Coast Medical School in the Central Region no Saturday as part of his tour of the region.

“Our doctor patient ratio is even more lump sided when you get to the rural and deprived areas of our country. I do not put the all the blame on our medical doctors unwillingness to work in these communities. If we had good road networks and good schools are available around the country and not only in the urban centers, if we had electricity supply in all communities we will not have to be asked indeed insist that our young doctors take up postings in the rural communities. As we train more doctors to solve the shortage of doctors, we must also do more to keep them,” he added.

Brain drain

The president also complained about the brain drain of doctors.

According to him although Ghana trains a lot of doctors only few remain and serve the country and thus encouraged the young medical doctors from the Cape Coast University to stay and work in Ghana.

“…our medical schools have got a good reputation and have been training good doctors but the doctor population ratio in our country remains very unsatisfactory after 60 years of independence. We have trained a lot of doctors but many are not practicing in Ghana. We have lost them to mostly to countries like the United States of America, United Kingdom and Germany. I’m told that Ghana’s doctor patient ratio is approximately one doctor to 8,000 patients. This is woefully inadequate and unacceptable,” he lamented.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Joseph Ackon-Mensah /citifmonline.com/Ghana
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He urged graduates to develop entrepreneurial skills and take advantage of employable opportunities in the country.

“We cannot sit down and wait for government to provide jobs for us so we need to do something for ourselves…develop entrepreneur skills but at the same time there should be some opportunities out there for us. I think what the government can do is to create that atmosphere that will enable a lot of private investors into the system. That atmosphere that will give room for graduates to manifest their potentials and do something for themselves rather than depending on the institutions that government has provided by itself”, he emphasized.

Mr. Prince Affum gave the advice at a day Capacity Building Training Workshop organized by the Brong Ahafo Regional Chapter of Distance Education Students Association of Ghana-University of Cape Coast (DESAG-UCC) for its members in the region.

It was on the theme: “Capacity Building for Effective Modern Day Graduate” and attended by members drawn from its nine (9) centres.

He recommended government concentrate on creating the enabling environment for graduates to realize their own potential by starting businesses.

In his welcome address, Regional President of the association, Mahama Babie encouraged them to use the skills and knowledge acquired to set up business to create employment opportunities for the youth in the country.

He noted the major challenge of the association was placement of its members to schools and institutions in the country and appealed to  government to absorb their graduating members to address the teacher deficit in the country.

“So we believe if government absorbs our members into teaching vacancies from primary to Senior High School level unemployment will reduce and employment opportunities given to people to contribute to national development” that we all aspire to have in this country,” he observed.

Mr. Babie mentioned Hwidiem, Kintampo, Dormaa, Nkoranza, Seikwa, Drobo, Techiman and Sunyani as centres where the UCC-DESAG courses are organized.

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By: Mashoud Kombat/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This, according to the DESAG leadership is making the UCC distance education system unattractive to prospective applicants and continuing students in Northern Ghana.

The association’s President, Ziblim Mohammed Lamin raised this concern at a day’s seminar in Tamale which brought together members across the region.

He therefore appealed to the university authorities to consider the construction of the UCC Tamale campus as crucial.

He insisted that the situation continued to cause discomfort when organising social programmes for DESAG members.

“The university authorities need to fast track the construction of the Tamale campus in order to ease our burden,” he underscored.

Ziblim Mohammed Lamin revealed that facilities at the Tamale College of Education (TACE) where the UCC distance education programmes takes place are not enough.

“Sometimes it is very difficult to get access to some facilities such as meeting places.”

He also bemoaned the frequent errors detected in the compilation of quiz results and the delay in correcting such errors.

He nonetheless encouraged the association’s members to strive and become self-employed graduates.

“Venture into small and medium enterprises with the knowledge and skills that you will acquire from the seminar instead of waiting for government or some private institutions to employ you after completing your courses of study.

The DESAG National Vice President, Fuseini Mohammed Soale emphasized the need for members to take up regular internships in different organisations.

He touted Ghanaian students as potential key drivers of the nation’s socio-economic progression.

He pleaded for enough resources to organise regular seminars for the association’s members estimated to be 45,000 nationwide.

The seminar sought to build participants capacity in entrepreneurship and leadership.

Female participants took advantage of the event and improved their skills in soap and beads making.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The SRC president, Tony Henry Arthur at a press conference this morning said the students petitioned him to go on a demonstration in solidarity with their twenty colleagues rusticated by the university.

They were allegedly involved in the clashes between Atlantic (ATL) and Oguaa Halls two months ago which led to the stabbing of a few of the students and the destruction of properties of the university and some individuals.

[contextly_sidebar id=”gYdiwp7WQ1Yixq2TnRlooU8Fj4aPPGV2″]The SRC president assured that his outfit is in talks with management of the school to resolve the matter.

“As the SRC president I have the responsibility as per section 50 of the University Statues to be the official spokesperson of the entire students at all times and this I have done in this case. What I meant earlier was that my students have not received an official rustication letter from the university indicating the grounds for the rustication and hence it was only legitimate that the students treated the notice in circulation as rumour.”

“But I want to use this opportunity to also entreat on all students to be calm. I am calling on all my students who are calling for aluta and calling for removal of people from office and all those blaming others on social media to cease for the sake of peace and smooth resolution. We don’t think as a council that management of our university is claiming that its decisions are not amenable to review or appeal.”

He noted that they have held talks with the Vice Chancellor and hoping to use such avenue to resolve the issue amicably.

“The words from the Vice-Chancellor who is the chief disciplinarian brought some kind of relief to the leadership of the SRC and we have since utilized that amicable internal resolution only to be notified yesterday that an injunction from the High court has been served. Fellow students let’s all remain calm, stand for peace and order as mechanisms aid resolution of the matter,” Henry Arthur added.

Background

At least, three students were stabbed at UCC in March 2017 when a clash erupted between some enraged students of the University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, who had been invited to the celebration, and UCC students.

A UCC student, Emmanuel Quarshie, was paralysed after he was stabbed several times in the course of the clashes while entering his hall from night studies.

The clashes occurred when porters of Oguaa Hall refused to allow some naked Vandals, Unity and ATL students from entering the hall.

Several properties worth thousands of Ghana Cedis belonging to Oguaa Hall were vandalized during the scuffle.

Some vehicles belonging to some lecturers were also destroyed.

Meanwhile the school which set up a disciplinary committee to investigate the matter later suspended 22 of the students who were allegedly at the forefront of the disturbance and were also negligent in their duties.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey & Joseph Ackon-Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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They included 51, PhD, 266 MPhil, and 1,719 MBA, MSc, MEd, MA as well as Post-Graduate Diploma and Post Graduate Certificate in various disciplines including nursing.

Addressing the congregation, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Joseph Ghartey Ampiah said graduate education continued to be the focus of UCC both in the medium and long terms.

In this regard, he said, the university would continue to churn out graduate students with strong ethics and commitment to society.

He said the UCC School of Graduate Studies (SGS) had over the years sought to ensure the relevance of graduate programmes to socio-economic and technological development of the country and the sub-Region.

Prof Ghartey Ampiah said UCC would continue to chart innovative paths in responding to national needs through effective teaching, research and community engagement.

The Vice Chancellor announced that, subject to approval by the Academic Board, the university would introduce dual degree programmes and article-based thesis to provide flexibility for research and to catch up with international trends in expanding acknowledge.

He said postgraduate enrollment was shifting from the regular mode to sandwich and distance and indicated that the university would re-position itself to meet the shift in demand for graduate education.

He assured that the university would intensify its engagement with industry for funding research projects and also for practical training of its students.

Professor Mohammed Salifu, Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) commended UCC for the efforts in churning out quality graduate students.

He challenged UCC and other universities in the country to intensify their activities to ensure that tertiary education remained relevant by widening their scope to solve critical needs of the nation.

Prof Salifu said as Ghana was gradually heading towards a middle income country, its universities must also aspire to become world class research institutions.

He said conscious efforts must be made to address the postgraduate gap at the universities to be able to achieve that.

He noted that a chunk of undergraduate students were not pursuing postgraduate programmes and that should be a source of worry to the universities.

The Chancellor Dr Sam Esson Jonah underscored the importance of graduate studies to national development as its academic research activities provided crucial support for the national innovation system.

He was convinced that UCC graduate school would continue to foster conducive environment for critical, curious, creative and courageous graduates to find answers to the significant development challenges confronting the nation.

He urged the graduates to consider investing in agriculture if they thought of becoming entrepreneurs adding that “Agriculture is one area Ghanaians have failed to invest into on full scale”.

He further admonished them to find more innovative ways of doing business and using the knowledge and skills acquired to impact on society.

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Source: GNA

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The 12-kilometres race, organised by the Ghana Universities Sports Association (GUSA), involved 80 participants each in the men and women’s divisions from eight public universities including, the UCC, UDS, University of Ghana-Legon (UG), University of Education Winneba, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Mines and Technology- Tarkwa (UMaT), University of Professional Studies -Accra and University of Energy and Natural Resources – Sunyani (UENR).

University of Ghana took the second position, the University of Education (UEW) placed third, and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (KNUST) placed fourth.

The University for Development Studies, University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) Sunyani, University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) and University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA) also earned other deserved positions.

Professor Gabriel Ayum Teye, the Vice Chancellor of University for Development Studies, commended the participants for the excellent display of skills and endurance during the competition.

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Source: GNA

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He bemoaned the traditional attitude of sidelining local geniuses while they are alive and only honouring them when they are no more.

He made this call when he addressed the press on Wednesday at the outdooring of his car assembling factory at Gomoa Mponta.

He appealed to government and other African leaders to come to his aid because “in two years, I would have rolled out so many cars at a very cheap cost because of the parts of my car are assembled here in Ghana.”

Apostle Sarfo promised to deliver to the amazement of everyone if he gets the needed support.

“Government should help me to help you all because I am not in it to make profit as others are but to develop Africa,” he clarified.

Meanwhile, the President of the Ghana Institute of Engineering Technology and board member of the Council for Technology and Vocational Education and Training (COVET),  Rev. Engineer Eric Ankrah revealed that government is in the process of giving Apostle Sarfo accreditation to train more people.

He indicated that the decision is in line with government’s policy of competency based training.

He Rev. Ankrah mentioned that government has realized Apostle Sarfo work is in line with the competency based training government has started and it is going to be the vibrant background that we will support because government needs those skills.”

He promised that “COVET will assist everybody; whether you graduated from a vocational school or a Polytechnic such that your skills such that your skills will be useful to the society.”

By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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