A team of six (6) made up of the Dean, Vice-Dean and Head of Department of Accounting and Finance, Head of Department of Management Studies, Faculty Officer and two (2) leaders of the Fundraising Team has visited over three hundred (300) alumni in over thirty (30) organizations within Accra and Tema Metropolis. The Dean of the School, Professor Edward Marfo-Yiadom informed alumni that the purpose of the visit was to interact with them and also inform them about the establishment of the School of Business Development Fund. The alumni on their part were very pleased with the visit and commended the Management of the School for the good work. Among the organizations visited were:

• PricewaterhouseCoopers
• ADB Head Office
• UniBank (Gh) Ltd
• Bank of Ghana
• Universal Merchant Bank
• Cocoa Marketing Company (Gh) Ltd
• GRIDCo
• First BanC Financial Services Ltd
• Prudential Life Insurance Gh Ltd
• Ghana National Petroleum Corporation
• Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Ghana Stock Exchange
• Central Securities Depository (Gh) Ltd
• Ideal Finance
• Ernst & Young
• Standard Chartered Bank
• SIC Insurance Co. Ltd
• KPMG
• World Bank
• University of Cape Coast
• Ghana Revenue Authority
• Access bank (Gh) Ltd
• Omega Capital
• Tullow Ghana Limited
• Ecobank Ghana
• Volta River Authority
• TTL Capital Ltd
• FBN Bank
• HFC Investment Services Ltd
• Securities and Exchange Commission

A training workshop on the theme “Gender Sensitive Ethical Practice in Health Care Delivery” has been held for health practitioners and managers at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH). The training workshop, which was organised by the Centre for Gender Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD) in conjunction with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the School of Medical Sciences, brought together health managers and nurses across the country. Addressing the participants on Gender Sensitive Ethical Practice in Healthcare Delivery, the immediate past Director of CEGRAD, Prof. Akua Britwum, called on health managers to create a conducive environment for female health workers to enable them to report cases of sexual harassment. She explained that sexual harassment-free environment in healthcare delivery was a pre-condition for quality health services. To this end, Prof. Britwum charged health managers to develop sexual harassment policy to deal with such cases. She wondered why some irresponsible men who indulged in sexual harassment accused their victims of their mode of dressing at the workplace. Citing an example in Pakistan, she said, women who were dressed in burqa -an outerwear that covers the entire body except the eyes and hands, worn by some Muslim women - also complained of sexual harassment, saying the argument about women’s mode of dressing was untenable. For his part, a lecturer at the School of Medical Sciences, Dr. Evans Agbeno, who took participants through Gender and Healthcare delivery, cautioned Ghanaian men to desist from using aphrodisiac drugs due to their harmful effects. According to him, sexual enhancement drugs could be effective but their long term effects could be injurious to the kidney and liver. He advised; “Once there is penetration, it takes an average man 3 minutes to have orgasm, whilst it takes women 8-13 minutes to also reach orgasm. So don’t use these drugs.” He called on practitioners to sensitise the populace on family planning methods to help do away with the many misconceptions that continue to inhibit the use of the methods among Ghanaians. Dr. Agbeno revealed that in 2016, only seven men in the Central Region adopted the vasectomy method without informing their spouses. He, consequently, urged women to encourage their husbands to adopt vasectomy and disabused their minds from the perception they have about their husbands’ decision to use vasectomy. He said there were lot of emerging issues with Gender and Health implications in the country, saying that at the CCTH, husbands were permitted to be at the maternity ward during caesarian section and sometimes they were even allowed to cut the cord of their babies. Giving an overview of the Health Sector Gender Policy, the Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Genecology, SMS, Dr. Joseph Adu, said the policy was introduced in 2009 by the Ministry of Health. He said the policy was to promote professional ethics and human rights among health workers in the delivery of healthcare. Touching on strategies for Gender Sensitive Programme Reforms and Practices, the Director of CEGRAD, Dr. Genevieve Adukpo, called on health authorities to ensure that the activities and outputs of programmes should benefit both women and men by addressing their different needs and capacities. She indicated that CEGRAD had position itself to assist healthcare facilities as partners to promote gender equity and could even assist them to design gender and sexual harassment policies. Speaking on “Introduction to Basic Concepts in Gender”, a Research Assistant at CEGRAD, Ms. Amanda Odoi, explained patriarchy as a system of power relations in which women are subordinated to men. She pointed out family, religion, economic and education as the social institutions that reinforce women’s subordination. She, however, admitted that women also wield enormous powers under patriarchy, in the areas of Female Genital Mutilation, Widowhood rites, Mother and Maid, among others. Each Participant received a Certificate of Participation at the end of the workshop.  

The Co-ordinator of Auburn University Outreach Global, Ms. Elizabeth Quansah together with Prof. Dr. Forbes, and two Ph.D students, (Kristine Nicole, and Ashley Mills Duffy) have interacted with IEPA academic staff and post-graduate students. This was a follow up on discussions held with IEPA in May, 2015 when a delegation from Auburn University visited IEPA and the Director’s reciprocal visit to Auburn University on 13th March, 2017. The discussions were mainly on the outreach service learning programme being planned between Auburn and IEPA. It is hoped that four post graduate students together with one academic senior member would be visiting Auburn in June, 2017 to undertake the students’ service learning. The Auburn University delegation also donated relevant books to the department.

The President of Regent University College (RUC), Prof. N. N. Nsowah-Nuamah, has commended the University of Cape Coast for introducing novelty in mentorship of tertiary institutions in the country.

Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah made the comment when RUC hosted a training workshop organised by UCC for some affiliate institutions in the Greater Accra Region. Lecturers from Pentecost University College, School of Anaesthesia and Ophthalmic Nursing School, Public Health Nurses’ School, School of Peri-Operative & Critical Care Nursing School, Nurses’ Training College Pantang and Methodist University College participated in the workshop.

Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah said unlike other chartered universities, “UCC continue to provide good mentorship in the form of conducting pre and post moderation exercises, supervision of examinations, regular institutional visits and building the capacity of staff its affiliate institutions”. “I must say that all these standard procedures are aimed at nurturing affiliate institutions to offer quality training to students and also grow to become autonomous someday” he added.

The President of Regent University College advised participants to apply the knowledge they had acquired to help their students gain understanding of the courses they teach them. He said they should also be guided by the principles of assessment so that they could set unambiguous questions which would challenge become critical thinkers.

For his part, the Director of the Centre for Teaching Support, Prof. Douglas D. Agyei, said UCC as a mentoring institution would always ensure that its affiliate institutions conform to standards so that quality was not compromised. He indicated that the format for moderation had been reviewed so that lecturers would apply the basic principles of Assessment and supervision of students’ research work. “I believe we have shared some knowledge and experiences that will help all of us in our work as academics and it is our expectation that you make good use of what you have learnt for the past four days,” he noted

The Head of Institutional Affiliation Office, Mr. Justice Agyenim Boateng, said that at the tertiary level, students were matured in their sense of reasoning and therefore, the lecturers had a critical role to play in ensuring that they produce quality graduates comparable to any world class university. “This training you have received has provided you with hands-on experience to make a great impart in your students,” he urged.

Mr. Boateng said the team of moderators from UCC would expect the lecturers to set standardized questions with a precise and concise marking scheme. He added that “Our team should not find any cause to complain about the questions you present for moderation”.

A similar workshop was held concurrently at Kings University College which also brought together lecturers from Perez University College, Marshalls University College, Hopkins Health Training Institute, West end University College, Maranatha University College and Bimaks College.

During the four-day workshop, the participants were taken through “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.

The Resource persons for the two workshops were Dr. Samuel Essien-Baidoo, Dr. Eric Anane, Dr. Christopher Y. Kwaah, Dr. Godwin Aboagye and Dr. Kofi Acheaw Owusu.