The book, titled: ”Crossing the Divide: Precarious Work and the Future of Labour ” was edited by Prof. Emeritus Edward Webster, University of Witwatersrand in South Africa; Prof. Akua Opokua Britwum, UCC; Sharit  Bhowmik,  Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, compares  precarious work in India, Ghana and South Africa.

The 280-page book shows how innovative organisational strategies are emerging in the Global South to bridge the widening divide between the formal and informal economy.

Additionally, It reveals among other things that in India, Ghana, and South Africa, workers in domestic service, unregulated factories, and home-based work face difficult conditions with little or no union representation. The book also points out how these vulnerable workers are engaging in a range of creative strategies to fight for decent work and living conditions.

The University Librarian, Dr. Anthony Cobblah, who launched the book, commended the authors for coming up with the book.

He said African scholars lacked visibility globally as a result of their failure to digitize their intellectual materials for members of the global academic community to easily access them.

In view of this, he advised the editors as a matter of urgency to produce the electronic version of the book to enhance their visibility worldwide.

According to him, statistics from the Web of Science show that about 10,000 scholarly works were produced in Ghana annually.

 The Librarian announced that plans were far advanced to establish a section on research support in the Sam Jonah Library to support researchers in the University.

The move, according to him, would help researchers to identify collaborators in their area of research and also  the provision of sources of funding to assist them in research data management.

 The Library would also provide free consultancy on scholarship application and assist researchers on the issues of intellectual property, among others, he added.

That, he maintained, would enable researchers to produce quality research output, thereby enhancing the visibility of the University worldwide.

He called for serious attention to the management of knowledge and knowledge resource in the University and, therefore, enjoined stakeholders to get involved in the management of knowledge resources.

The Sam Jonah Library, through Dr.  Cobblah, bought 10 copies of the book.

For his part, Prof. Emeritus Edward Webster, said around 1980, Ghana and some African countries opened their markets to international competition, increasing the number of industries in the countries.

He described the situation as premature de industrilisation, explaining that those countries “de industrilised” before developing their industries.

He encouraged the reading public to look at the South-South collaboration, productive activities between domestic work and homework, and the different kind of organisations in Mumbai, when reading.

On her part, Prof. Akua Opokua Britwum, urged the readers to look out for stereotypes of precarious informal market, disposition amongst India, South Africa and Ghana, trade unions responses in the various countries when reading the book.

She again encouraged the reading public to look out for the labour institutions and legislations, the political systems and the religious roles and the areas of municipal spaces and rural spaces like lands captured in the book.

Taking her turn, the Copy Editor, Karin Pampalis, said it took four years to complete the book.

She commended the untiring cooperation of authors, editors, reviewers and proofreaders for the immense roles they played in the production of the book.

In his address, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, called for the promotion of ethnography in the University, bemoaning the increasing spate of quantitative research among colleagues to the disadvantage of qualitative research.

He advised researchers in the University to remain focus and find collaborators to extensively research in their fields.

The Vice-Chancellor urged members of the public to read the book and also advised the editors to make available the electronic version of the book for easy accessibility by the global academic community.

He bought two copies of the book.

The book launch was sponsored by Friedrich Evert Stiftung, the International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) and UCC.

Some notable personalities present at the launch included the Pro- Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George Oduro; the Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan and the Director of Public Affairs, Major (rtd) Kofi Baah-Bentum.

The Dominion University College (DUC), has hosted the fourth series of workshop for institutions affiliated to the University of Cape Coast in Accra.

Other institutions that participated in the three-day workshop were Academic City College and Baldwin College.

Opening the workshop, the President of DUC, Prof.  Wisdom Gagkuma, said his institution was honoured to host the workshop which would help build the capacities of lecturers to deliver quality educational services. He noted that faculty  was key towards realising the vision of any academic institution, stressing that “without the lecturers it will be impossible to admit students to pursue any programme of study in an academic institution”.

Prof. Gagkuma noted that the competence of faculty formed a strong marketing tool for any university, adding that “the survival of the university largely depend on the competence of the lecturers”. He, therefore, expressed gratitude to UCC for organising the training programme, which according to him, would contribute to quality education delivery in the respective institutions.

The Director of the Centre for Teaching Support, Prof. Douglas D. Agyei, said UCC was highly committed towards strengthening the relationship with its affiliate institutions. “UCC has the responsibility to provide good mentorship and the relationship should be a better one,” he indicated.

Prof. Agyei said the objective of the workshop was not to mark or correct the lecturers, but to work with them to give directions. He said the workshop also serve as a learning platform for the resource persons, since they also gain experience through the contribution of participants. He called on the participants to feel comfortable to cooperate with the resource persons to enable them build on their expertise.

Explaining the rationale for the workshop, the Head of the Institutional Affiliation Office, Mr. Justice Agyenim Boateng, said the training programme was to set standards for moderation exercise so that the moderators from UCC and affiliate institutions would work on the same wavelength.  He added that the workshop would help them gain more experience in constructing of test items, designing of course outline and supervision of students research work.

Mr. Boateng stated that UCC was poised to provide the best mentoring services in the country, hence,  the need for organisation of these workshops and also sharing experience and best practice with its affiliate institutions. “UCC is doing a lot and there is no doubt that UCC is the best mentoring institution” he emphasized.

 Presentations for the workshop focused on “Types of Assessment and Assessment Criteria (Feedback Mechanisms)”, “Learning Outcomes/Blooms Taxonomy of Cognitive Learning”, “Table of Specification”. Others included “Types of Multiple Test Items”; “Essay Type Questions”; “Preparation of Course Outline” and “Effective Project Work Supervision.

Resource persons for the workshop were Dr. Eric Anane and Dr. Christopher Y. Kwaah.

At the end of the workshop, some participants, who took turns to comment about the training, commended the team for adding unto their knowledge and urged UCC to organise regular training programmes to build their capacities.

Present at the workshop were the Vice President of DUC, Mrs. Alice Sena Lamptey; Registrar of DUC, Mr. Rexford Atunway; Dean of Academic Affairs ACC, Dr. Abhishek Tyagi and Registrar of BUC, Mr. Ohene K. Abbu-Bonsra.

A similar workshop was also held at Ankaful Psychiatric Nursing Training College, which brought together lecturers from St. Nicholas Seminary, Mfantseman Institute of Technology and Institute for Development and Technology Management within the same period. Resource persons for the workshop were Dr. Samuel Essien-Baidoo, Dr. Godwin Aboagye and Dr. Kofi Acheaw Owusu.

A visiting lecturer from Midland State University (MSU), Gweru, Zimbabwe, Dr. Ennie Manyumwa, has urged management and staff of the College of Distance Education (CoDE) to develop strategies to promote collaborative research in the College.

She noted that promoting collaborative research would create opportunities for the College and for that matter UCC to win both local and international research grants and also help lecturers to progress through the academic ladder.

Dr. Manyumwa gave the advice when she delivered a lecture on “Sharing University Teaching Experience” at CoDE Conference Room.

Sharing the experience of her University, Dr. Manyumwa said they had made a conscious effort to develop strategies for collaborative research by identifying themes out of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  “We form research clusters with team leaders and hold retreats for the lecturers where we invite renowned publishers to make presentations on the expectation of their journals,” she explained.

According to her, MSU had made a strenuous effort to help lecturers to publish, indicating that “there is a Research Board that support lecturers to conduct research and also publish their papers in renowned journals”. She noted that it was a strict requirement for lecturers to publish a minimum of one research paper every year, stressing that “we firmly hold unto the saying, publish or perish in our university”. 

Dr. Manyumwa also shared a number of activities her university undertakes, including community engagement and collaboration with local and international universities

The Provost of CoDE, Prof. Isaac Galyuon, who chaired the lecture, said he was fascinated by the work of the Research Board of MSU and noted that UCC also has a Directorate of Research Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC) that performs similar roles.  “The lecture has helped us to learn best practices and benchmarks which are noteworthy,” he noted.

On the issue of collaboration, he assured the visiting lecturer that the College would liaise with the Centre for International Education to work out the partnership arrangement between UCC and MSU so that a memorandum of understanding could be signed between the two institutions to formalise the relationship. “We need to have more collaboration with many African universities to project the capabilities of the African researcher,” he stressed.

Present at the lecture were Registrar of CoDE, Mr. Opoku Oku-Afari, heads of department, and staff of CoDE.