The Institute of Education has held the 7^th Excellence Award ceremony for the 2016/17 academic year on the theme “The Teacher: An Agent of National Development”.

Five national and 15 zonal awardees were presented with cash, laptops and printer; and citations.

In his welcome address, the Director of the Institute, Prof. Frederick Ocansey, said the Professional Board of institute has expanded the scope and coverage of the awards by increasing the number of awardees to 20 from the previous 10. This comprises five national award winners and three winners from each of the five zones.

The Director announced that a total of 190 students of the 2016/17 graduating cohort had first class which he described as “a remarkable improvement over the previous results”.  This, he said meant that the ceremony was been held for the “best of the best” adding: “your perseverance and hard work has really paid off”.

Prof. Ocansey reminded them that they were examples to their peers, it was, therefore, expedient for them to continue to demonstrate virtues of hard work, discipline, commitment and respect for others to emulate. “The awards are not just an event, but to encourage others to perform at the same level”.

The Guest Speaker for the occasion, Mr. Lloyd Alexander Djangmah, said teachers had a vital role in nation building because the future was totally in their hands. “They choose to be the fortune builders of the country and if you really want to know how important teachers are to the country, try imagining a nation without them”.

“It will only be a nation of utter chaos, where nobody will step up to make sure the kids get the best education and knowledge to sustain a good healthy life. The nation will no longer be able to progress and the population will suffer”, he stated.

The former Principal of Offinso College of Education, said only the best and most intelligent and competent members of our intelligentsia be allowed to practice the noble profession, bearing in mind that “the quality of a nation depends on the quality of its educational system and its teachers”.

Continuing, the guest speaker said: “In the development of a country, great attention has to paid to education and learning, as well as good morals, and nobody is suited to push or execute this process but the ‘teacher’. Without the teacher, both knowledge and morals would suffer”.

Mr. Djangmah noted that students/pupils were affected by the teacher’s love and affection, his or her character, competence and moral commitment. “Most teachers become role models for their pupils. They try to follow his or her manners, customs, etiquette and style of conversation”.

Concluding, Mr. Djangmah said “A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination and instill a love of learning. Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world”.

Advising the award winners, the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro told the awardees that excellence must not be limited to writing examination alone but must permeate their entire lives so it would affect their pupils and society at large.

Again, he admonished the awardees to humble themselves always since “humility can send them to where money cannot”.

He asked them to use their teaching periods to the benefit of their pupils instead of browsing the internet.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah disclosed that the University through the Institute would provide scholarship to the five national awardees to pursue post diploma degree in basic education. He said they want to desist from the practice where students pursue Diploma in Basic Education but divert to do other courses. “It is not good to do Basic Education then you turn to something else afterwards for post diploma. It must be in the same area”.

The Provost of the College of Education Studies, Prof. Eric Wilmot, who chaired the ceremony, told the awardees to look forward into the future and build the character of the next generation of Ghanaians. Prof. Wilmot was particularly happy that seven out of the awardees were women and said he was looking forward to a time when there would be parity in gender of awardees.

The School of Agriculture has held a research seminar for both faculty and students at the C. A. Ackah Lecture Theatre. Opening the programme, the Dean of the School, Prof. Elvis Asare-Bediako, underscored the need to learn and share knowledge from one another adding that “We do not want to have our research findings remain on shelves forever”. “You can be in animal science for example but you can learn from other areas as well as share what you have with others to make you a complete scientist”. The Dean of the School noted that, agriculture as a discipline was important to the society and therefore, it was crucial that such seminars were held to learn new developments in the sector. Prof. Asare-Bediako disclosed that the seminar series would be made mandatory for all faculty so that they would show their colleagues and the rest of the world what they profess. Prof. Asare-Bediako said to enrich the seminar, the organisers invited resource persons from outside to talk about what was happening on the field. He said through this, faculty would in turn determine what to do to complement what was being done by farmers. He advised participants to take keen interest in the seminar and share whatever knowledge they would acquire with others.   Presenting on the topic “Metafrontier Analysis of Fish Farms in Ghana: An Empirical Evidence”, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Ghana, Rev. Dr. Edward Ebo Onumah said global fish stock was sturdily declining while both marine and inland fishing were also stagnating. In order to bridge the gap between domestic production and demand in fish production, Rev. Dr. Onumah said there was the urgent need to increase resources to the sector since current contribution was woefully inadequate.   “Lack of resources to boost production in the fisheries sector means we will continue to experience little or inadequate fish production”, he said. In addition, Dr. Onumah mentioned that improvement in technical efficiency was paramount to any significant changes that could be made in the sector. He intimated that aquaculture had the capacity to meet the fish requirement of the country since there has been a constant increase in that area for some time now. Dr. Onumah also recommended that managers of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme must connect with fish farming since there was huge potential to feed the people as well as provide income to the huge pool of unemployed in the country. Even though he lauded the intent to use abandoned galamsey ponds for fish farming, he however, cautioned against the attempt since it could be detrimental to consumers, if the water was not properly tested.   A farmer and Director of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation Centre for No-Till Agriculture at Amanchia, Okuani Kofi Boa, said as population increased and each ‘soul’ needed to be fed the land was degrading.   “Previously the land was supporting food production, but currently the soil is destroyed and therefore, we now experience poor crop growth and yield”, he said. Okuani Boa called for a change from the old paradigm of agriculture to a new one saying “Indigenous knowledge and science give us hope, permanent soil cover and non-tillage are possible”.          

The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) is supporting the University with One million dollars to create a research chair in Petroleum Commerce at the Institute for Oil and Gas Studies.

This support is aimed at enhancing cooperation between academia and industry.

The deal was officially sealed with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two institutions. Under the MoU, GNPC will commit an amount of $250, 000 dollars for the next four academic years to support the activities of the Chair.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah signed on behalf of UCC, whiles the Chief Executive of GNPC, Dr. K. K. Sarpong appended for the Corporation.

The scope of activities of the Chair include the establishment of technical partnership with leading universities and industry leaders within and beyond the African continent. Also, the chair is expected to establish teaching and learning exchange programmes with partner universities as well as engaging industry to establish state-of-the-art research laboratory in Petroleum Commerce at UCC.

The Chair will develop and coordinate graduate level programmes in Petroleum Commerce and related fields at UCC and also train two PhDs in Petroleum Commerce. In addition to this, the chair will coordinate the setting up of a Centre of Excellence in Ghana and Africa to produce world-class professionals in the field of commerce to provide innovative solutions to the mining and petroleum industries.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, expressed gratitude to GNPC for partnering the University to strengthen petroleum commerce research and education capacity in Ghana. “We are excited that you have come to campus for us to sign this important MoU that will help the University to contribute meaningfully towards the petroleum industry,” he noted.

Prof. Ampiah said UCC would leverage on its human resources capacity to provide the needed services to boost petroleum trade in the country and beyond. He assured that the University was ever willing to partner GNPC to achieve its objective of setting up the fund and also produce top-notch graduates with specialisation in all aspect of the petroleum industry

The Vice-Chancellor also said UCC had plans of establishing a School of Governance and Law to strengthen the governance system of corporate institutions which according to him would also be of immense benefit to the petroleum industry. He seized the opportunity to call on GNPC to support the University in putting up structures for the new School.

On his part, the Chief Executive of GNPC, Dr. K. K. Sarpong, said GNPC was committing the amount into the University with the sole aim of producing Ghanaian experts in the petroleum value chain. “We want Ghanaians to fully take charge of the petroleum sector of this country. We need to train the next generation to fully take charge of petroleum business in this country,” he explained.

Dr. Sarpong called on the University to make judicious use of the money invested into the establishment of the Chair to achieve the objectives of the MoU signed between the two institutions. He said GNPC would not hesitate to fund other activities of the University if this project was successful.

Present at the signing ceremony were the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro; Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan; Provost, College of Humanities and Legal Studies, Prof. Dora Edu-Buandoh; Provost, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Prof. L. K. Sam-Amoah; Provost, College of Health and Allied Sciences, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong; Director, Institute for Oil and Gas, Prof. Joseph Aggrey-Fynn.

Other officers accompanying the Dr. Sarpong were Ms. Matilda Ohene (Board Secretary, GNPC); Dr. Patrick Ofori (Manager, Sustainability) ; Mr. Yaw Kyei (Board Member),Dr. Kwame Baah-Nuakoh (General Manager, Sustainability) and Joseph Dadzie (General Manager, Commercial).