The University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) has partnered five Ghanaian Universities including the University of Cape Coast, University of Ghana, University of Education, Winneba, University of Development Studies and Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration to establish a joint Centre for West African Studies. The Centre is to provide a unique platform to expand the collaboration which already exist between these Universities and also allow Professors from these universities with similar research interest to publish papers and supervise PhDs together. Speaking at the official launch of the Centre for West African Studies, Dean, School of International Education, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Professor Julia DI, indicated that UESTC collaborated with Universities in Ghana because of their commerce and strong background in education and research. She indicated that the Centre would also provide opportunities for other Professors and students from universities in Ghana to join the Centre in future. The Vice-Chancellors from the Ghanaian Universities on their part welcomed their partner from UESTC and expressed their willingness to be part of the collaboration. They also indicated that the establishment of the Centre would provide unique opportunities for the five universities in Ghana to collaborate with UESTC on a common research interest which would ensure a win-win situation for all partners. During the official launch of the Centre, appointment letters were also presented to the principal researchers from each University’s Research Team. Prof. (Mrs.) Rosemond Boohene received the certificate on behalf of the UCC team. The delegation at the launch of the Centre from the Ghanaian Universities included Vice-Chancellor, UCC, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah; Dean, Centre for International Education, UCC, Prof. (Mrs) Rosemond Boohene; Vice Chancellor, University of Ghana, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu; Acting Rector, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, Prof. Philip Ebow Bondzi-Simpson; Vice-Chancellor of University for Development Studies, Prof. Gabriel Ayum Teye and Dean, Faculty of Language Education, University of Education, Winneba, Prof. Yaw Sekyi Baidoo. UESTC was also represented by Prof. Sehn Xiaorong, Vice Chairman of University Council; Prof. Zhao Shurong, Director, Centre for West African Studies of UESTC, China; Prof. Tang Zhiwei, Dean, School of Political Science and Public Administration; Prof. Ma Yongkai, Dean, School of Management and Economics; and others.  

Quality Legal education is the bedrock for an effective and efficient judiciary, Chief Justice Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood has declared. “Senior Ghanaian judges complain that the quality of legal education is suffering a nose-dive. Especially judges in the senior judiciary are not quite happy with the standards in our courts”. The Chief Justice was speaking at the 2017 African Law Schools Forum at the Coconut Grove Hotel, Elmina. The theme for the forum is “Decolonizing Legal Education In Africa”. It is being held under the auspices of the International Association of Law Schools, which has a membership of more than 150 Law Schools from all over the world. The mission of the association is to bring these schools together to improve legal education globally. Most importantly, it is trying to prepare Law students to work in every part of the world since the world is now interconnected. The association is divided into four that is Americas, Africa, Asia- Pacific and Europeans regions. The Chief Justice there was the need to be concerned about the falling standards of legal training because “we draw our judges from our pool of lawyers, so if we get good lawyers we are bound get good judges’. Mrs. Wood intimated that the law served as the fundamental principle of civil society since it was the effective, efficient and proper application of rule of law in governance that leads to development in every sphere of life be it economic, social or political. She stressed that good legal education should teach, model and shape a student’s sense of moral and ethical responsibilities as someone who has been trained in the law. “The ethical grounding for me is the most important element of legal education. Judges need it, practitioners need to have sound and ethical moral grounding”. “So perhaps as legal educators you need it more than anybody else, because if we succeed in providing for ourselves highly ethical legal educators, quite a number of the problems we face will pale into insignificance”. On protocol admission into law Schools, the Chief Justice challenged legal educators to keep to admission requirement to ensure that the standards of legal practice were not compromised in the country. She said Justice “knows no protocol, so for me I will highlight this element, we need to hold each other’s hand and encourage ourselves to build a strong ethical system by ensuring that we ourselves do take the initial approach”. Another matter of concern according to the Chief Justice was the lack of strong faculty in Ghana, “saying these weak systems affect other areas”. She told participants of the forum that trial judges were being engaged as lecturers in Law Schools. She indicated that the General Legal Council has decided that no trial judge was permitted to serve as part time lecturer in a private university. This was because it violated constitutional principles and as such judges were paid as full time staff by government and also for the fact that it affects output of judges. She however explained that Appellate court judges have been permitted to do so because they do not sit on daily basis. “We have written to all law faculties not to entertain judges in their institutions. I will like to encourage our legal educators that they lead the way and we follow”. On his part, the acting Dean of the Faculty of Law UCC, Prof. Obeng Mireku said they were concerned about imposition of Western legal concepts which have all along been used to teach and produce lawyers and judges. “Lawyers and Judges in Africa have challenges in their work, yet their mindset and training do not consider the indigenous laws. We have sacrificed them for laws that come from Europe and therefore we are concerned as Law Deans in Africa to have a relook at the curriculum and how we teach it. We need to promote African values that have hitherto been ignored or distorted because of the Eurocentric nature of the legal curricula we inherited,” Prof. Mireku explained. The acting Dean said they had secured the consent of the judiciary who regularly give them inputs into what they expect from the law graduates that are being trained in the law schools. Prof. Mireku said it was not belated to have these changes done, because if they were not immediately dealt with, it would be very difficult to get rid of them. “Ghana for example has inherited the English legal system since the bond of 1844, that bond was the first step to impose the English Common law tradition into Ghana at the expense of the indigenous legal thought processes”. He noted. “Although there are differentiations, what we need to do as legal educators is to identify the common trends and also appreciate the differentiated practices and put all these together and sanitize them because some of them are not consistent with our situation, for example the bill of rights”.

A former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, has advocated for the training of more graduate students not only to feed the job market but also to generate new ideas. “All top Universities are to train people for the job market, but it is also their duty to come out with new ideas by engaging in research”, he stressed. Prof. Aryeetey made the statement at the 2nd Research Awards and Grants ceremony organised by the Directorate of Research Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC). The annual event is held to motivate and honour faculty members who have the potential to engage in impact-oriented research or have distinguished themselves in the same regard. The ceremony provided the platform for research awardees and grantees to share their research output and experiences with policy makers, academics, industrialists and the general public for the purpose of national socio-economic transformation. In terms of the selection of the awards, 24 out of the total of 64 who applied for support to undertake new research were successful. They were given various amounts of money to do their work. Again, seven researchers were also presented with cash awards for their previous works. Dr. Ernest Teye and Dr. David Oscar Yawson presented outcomes of their research works for which they were awarded at the function. Prof. Aryeetey said the Sustainable Development Goals could only be achieved with a solid foundation in research. He, therefore, noted, “We can have fertilizer available but we have to teach the farmers new ways of using the chemical. We need to have new ideas always”. On the need to change or focus on graduate studies, the former Vice-Chancellor indicated that, the world has changed and for that reason, UCC must also shift towards that direction to share in the benefits thereof. “There is no need to worry about undergraduate training, because currently there are many universities in Ghana to take care of that”. Prof. Aryeetey added that “Time is now for Africa to get more graduate universities since it provides more job opportunities for the people”. Prof. Aryeetey lauded UCC for the path it has taken to give prominence to research activities but warned that it was not an easy path, since it called for hard work. “What UCC seeks to do and achieve is important but does not come very cheap, you need to work for it, it demands extra effort of all”. On the role of research to the growth of countries, he said there were enough evidence to prove that countries that have embarked on vigorous research activities have grown in all fields. He said there were both difficult and easy ways of doing research. “If you decide to it all by yourself, it will cost more money and time. But the easy way is to have partnership, we need to encourage people to go into partnership especially in Africa”. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah said management would continue to provide DRIC with both human and capital resources to undertake its mandate of expanding the frontiers of research both within and outside the university. Prof. Ampiah announced that the research fund has been increased from one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand cedis to enable more faculty members undertake research. He was hopeful that the support provided would not be limited to only the advancement of knowledge but would affect both the University and the society at large. He congratulated all who applied for the grants and assured them of the continued support from DRIC.

The Account Manager of Elsevier, Mr. Sherif Ghazy, has advised researchers to make their publications known to the world. According to him, research plays an important role in influencing the visibility of academic institutions and researchers across the globe. Mr. Ghazy said this when he took Senior Members of the University through Research Output of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) from 2011 to 2016. Giving the breakdown of UCC’s research performance from 2011 to 2016, he lauded the University for the sustainability of its international collaborations, both locally and globally. In terms of research output according to disciplines, Mr. Ghazy said the medical sciences were in the lead followed by the Social Sciences, Agriculture and Biological Sciences Mr. Ghazy used the occasion to mention top authors in the University who had written numerous publications which were visible across the world, spanning from 2011 to 2016, with the first author having 32 publications. The Account Manager disclosed that stakeholders in university rankings considered a number of factors including teaching, research, citations, international outlook and industry income for ranking universities in the world. "About 85 per cent of Students find university rankings as important in their selection of institutions to study." he stressed. Mr. Ghazy further explained the concept of Scopus and Scival which he said offered quick, easy access to the research performance of 8,500 research institutions and 220 nations worldwide. Suggesting ways of improving the visibility of UCC, Mr. Ghazy said the University should get a glance snapshot of the University’s research performance; benchmark its performance against peers and create model test scenarios by creating virtual teams and newly emerging research areas. He further indicated that UCC should establish collaborative partnerships locally and globally, as well as tracking and monitoring to stay up-to-date with changes in the research market. Elsevier is the world leading information analytical company, specialised in science and technology.