The Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA) has organised an exhibition to showcase research work by Post-graduate students to the University community and the general public.

Dubbed “Students Creativity Expo 2018”, the exhibition was on the theme “Innovations in Education for Graduates Who Are Called to Lead”. 

The research work presented in the form of posters at the 2018 Expo focused on “Safety and Security of UCC Students Outside the University Traditional Halls”; Stakeholders Perspectives on the Implementation of the Free SHS Policy in the Cape Coast Metropolis” and “Students’ Satisfaction of Medical Examination in the University of Cape Coast Hospital”.

Some PhD students also presented posters of their ongoing research work.

Opening the function, the Provost of the College of Education Studies, Prof. Eric M. Wilmot, commended IEPA for instituting the initiative. He said the research topics could inform policies at different levels and advised that “We must lift it from a course assignment to full blown research where the outcomes can be shared because each of them has a potential. They are looking at contemporary issues at the Basic, Secondary and Tertiary Level”.

Prof. Wilmot noted that the dissemination of the research findings would elevate the University’s status a serious research institution. He assured that the College would support IEPA and even extend the initiative to other faculties and departments within the College.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, in his remarks recommended to IEPA to engage heads, teachers and other administrative staff of Senior High Schools and Colleges of Education in subsequent research dissemination programme so that they would have a fair knowledge about the outcomes of their studies.  “This can also be a marketing strategy for getting more people to our programmes,” he added.

Prof. Oduro thanked IEPA for sustaining the initiative and commended the students for taking active part in the Expo. “To the students, I pray that this becomes part of you, so that it doesn’t become a formality. Whatever your individual research agenda is, do not only think about publications but also think about dissemination so that it will inform policy,” he urged.

The Director of IEPA, Dr. Bro Michael Amakyi, said; “At IEPA, we believe that every research work of students should be disseminated to the public. We also want to help the students to know how to publish their research findings”.

“This is the first step, they go and collect data and then present their findings to a larger group of people.”  He said the Expo had become an annual programme and “Our lecturers are prepared to support it to work and it is an institutional programme.”

Dr. Amakyi said the three key areas of IEPA’s research included Leadership and Management of Educational Institutions, Educational Planning and Quality Assurance.  He said major stakeholders of IEPA were the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service and leadership of various educational institutions.  He said there would be a conference as a follow-up to the research findings on 6th June, 2018.

The Coordinator of the Expo, Dr. Michael Boakye-Yiadom, indicated that the students would write research papers out of their work. He said the research papers would be compiled and published as Expo Proceedings so that stakeholders and the general public could have access to them.

“We know that research findings should influence policy and practice, so that will be a good reference material for policy makers, students, and the general public,” he noted.

He said the Expo which started in 2015 “is growing bigger and taking more research focus; we are hoping to involve GRASAG and other departments so that eventually it becomes a University-wide event.”

A professor of Natural Products Chemistry, Professor Yaw Opoku-Boahen, has underscored the need to invest in medicinal plants to create jobs for the teeming youth in the country.

Prof. Opoku-Boahen said research had shown that certain medicinal plants could heal chronic diseases such cancer, malaria and HIV/Aids.

“Taxol from Pacific Yew is effective in the treatment of various forms of cancer such as ovarian, pancreatic, cervical, lung and breast cancers” he mentioned. According to him Calanolide A and Canolide B obtained from Calophyllum Teysmanii has been discovered as anti HIV/AIDS drug.

Prof. Opoku-Boahen made these statements when he delivered an inaugural lecture on the topic “Phytochemistry: My Contribution to the Search for Biologically Active Compounds”

Prof. Opoku-Boahen said in many parts of the world, malaria continued to attract attention and therefore it was necessary to ensure the availability of safe and effective drugs for the treatment of the disease. He said “Recent report indicated that the malaria parasite may be developing a degree of resistance to synthetic drugs which may return the quine alkaloids to their position of former importance as therapeutic agents,” he noted.

The Professor of Natural Products Chemistry called for the need to pay serious attention to the study of Organic Chemistry.  “At the SHS level you don’t need straight Organic Chemistry to pass, so most students avoid that particular portion of the syllabus, what they do is just study the nomenclature that’s the naming of organic compounds” he said.

He also said inadequate funding and lack of state-of-the-art laboratory equipment was hampering the study of the discipline in most institutions. “The unavailability of funds makes standards to be compromised and students have also lost interest in the discipline”, he noted, adding that “To train a single person in Organic Chemistry is equivalent to training 5,000 people in other science related disciplines.”

Prof. Opoku-Boahen called on management of the University to make efforts to purchase the needed laboratory equipment to facilitate the teaching and research in the Department of Chemistry. He said with such equipment, the Department would be able to produce groundbreaking research to provide solutions to some challenges affecting the nation in the areas of health, petrochemical industry, water and sanitation and the environment in general. “With a little financial support the Department of Chemistry will become a Centre of Excellence for teaching, research and enterprise, “he assured.