Search

UCC Collaborates with Exim Bank to Award Graduate Entrepreneurs

01 Dec, 2016 By louis Mensah

EXIM Bank Ghana has presented GH¢100,000 each to 20 young graduate entrepreneurs to enhance their businesses at a ceremony held at the Alisa Hotel, Accra.

 

The Bank last year set up the Graduate Enterprise Development Initiative (GEDI) project as a complement to the Youth Enterprise Support (YES) programme. It is meant to support graduates between the ages of 18 and 35 to set up their own non-traditional export trade and agro-based processing businesses to feed the local industry since it is strongly believed these young graduates have the potential of becoming successful.

 

In view of this, Exim Bank Ghana has contracted the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC) to serve as the implementing partner.

 

In his remarks, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Dr. Baffour Osei indicated that the project would have a multiplier effect since it would serve as a source of employment to other graduates.  Dr. Osei assured that the Bank would follow up on the progress of the awardees to ensure that the money given them was put to good use.

 

Prof. Richard Bani who chaired the ceremony, noted that it was not the preserve for well established companies alone to contribute to the economy and added that small scale companies contribute over $27 million to the US economy every year.  “Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) are generating more to the economy of Ghana too because government alone cannot employ everybody”.

 

Prof. Bani who is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank, indicated that recently four graduates from the University of Ghana launched a software known as ‘Asorba’ to help churches with the administration of their tithes and networking of their members. He urged the award winners to constantly improve on their products so as to assure them of ready patronage from both local and international markets. To this end, the Chairman of the Board advised them to work closely with both the Ghana Standards Authority and the Food and Drugs Authority in order to meet both local and international standards.

 

Lead Consultant for the GEDI project, Prof. Rosemond Boohene said the University of Cape Coast worked closely with the EXIM Bank and participants at every stage of the project implementation through training, monitoring, coaching and final selection of the award winners. She said 20 businesses were eventually selected from the initial 37 that were shortlisted by an 11-member panel.

 

Prof. Boohene congratulated the award winners and assured them of the University’s support. “We would continue to provide support for you as you implement your respective projects”.

“We hope that the vigorous processes that we have taken you through in the past six months have adequately prepared you to manage your businesses”.

She assured the 17 other finalists that they would continue to liaise with them to get alternative funding opportunities for their businesses.

 

The award businesses are Juga Farms, Vegerfresh Farms Limited, Tittan Ventures, Yarda Trust Company Limited, Sule Yahaya Enterprise, Modern Grasscutter Company Limited, Nawubil Limited, Babaoo Foods Limited, Nouveau Foods Ghana Limited and E90 Ghana.

 

The rest are PK Farms Limited, Premor Limited Sparkxx Foods and Beverages Loimited, DSustainable Agro Limited, Isshad Plus Enterprise, Basoah Agriculture Centre, Billion Gates Ventures, Odera Ventures, Unique Quality Enterprise and DelChris Ventures.

News
01 Dec, 2016

Cape Coast,November, 2016 – University of Cape Coast was selected by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program(CADFP) to host an African Diaspora scholar from the United States to work on a collaborative project on “curriculum development, research and graduate student mentoring and supervision in data science”.

Dr. Kossi Delali Edoh, a Fellow from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, United States of America will lead the project, together with Elliot Kojo Attipoe, a lecturer at the Computer Science and Information Technology Department, University of Cape Coast. The prestigious program is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE). The United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) in Kenya provides strategic direction through Dr. Paul Tiyambe Zeleza and an Advisory Council he chairs.

Now in its fourth year, the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program has helped 239 African-born scholars who have been living and working in North America to connect with their peers at universities throughout Africa. The program is designed to build capacity at the host institutions in Africa, and to develop long-term, mutually-beneficial partnerships between the universities. The program selects projects that were proposed by the host universities and matches them with African-born scholars, covering the visiting scholars’ expenses, including transportation, a daily stipend, and the cost of obtaining visas and health insurance.

The main objective of the collaboration is to establish a leading data science training and research center at the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Cape Coast. The world is increasingly becoming digital with the aggregation of huge amount of data and hence the need for finding new ways of extracting knowledge or insight from the data which is beneficial to society. There is a huge potential in the African region and the power of data science can be harnessed to address some social and economic needs. The proposed project is to help improve and develop the research capabilities of students (undergraduates and postgraduates) and researchers in the field of data science with a specific interest in the African or local content. The project also seeks to mentor and train postgraduate students to develop topics or concepts into research practices and eventually translate such research works into dissertations and publications.

It is expected that the research center will serve as a leading source of information in data science for the African region. It is the goal of the host department to position itself as a center of excellence with top class researchers and resources with the capability to collaborate with other institutions and industries. The host department also intends to maintain a long-term relationship with the visiting fellow and explore the possibilities of collaborating with the fellow’s home institution. 

The University of Cape Coast project is one of 69projects that will pair 70North America-based African scholars with higher education institutions and collaborators on the continent to developcurricula, conduct research, teach graduate students, and train and mentor students and professors in the coming months.  The projects span all disciplines from agro forestry to e-learning modules for nursing, and from ethnomusicology to military mental health.

The Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program Advisory Council is comprised of academic leaders from Africa and prominent African Diaspora academics.Launched by IIE three years ago, the program has resulted in many ongoing ties. In the project’s two-year pilot phase, which ended last December, 110 African-born academics working at 86 United States and seven Canadian institutions took part as Fellows. An impact study conducted by IIE shows that 96% of the 104 hosts at 66 African institutions have continued collaborating even after the formal fellowship ended.

According to Dr. Zeleza, Vice Chancellor of USIU-Africa, who chairs the program’s Advisory Council, “Diaspora knowledge networks that bring together academics across disciplines and help to facilitate scholarly collaboration, faculty and student exchanges, and networking opportunities are an important component of brain circulation. Diaspora academics constitute a critical facet of higher education internationalization. The connections fostered through them ultimately support capacity building and innovation in home and host countries. Unique in its organization, CADFP offers opportunities for truly collaborative, innovative and transformative engagements between African Diaspora academics in Canada and the United States and African higher education institutions in six countries.”

“The Carnegie Corporation of New York’s generous grant demonstrates a deep commitment to expanding human capital and furthering academic relationships between Africa and the U.S. and Canada,” said Allan Goodman, President and CEO of the Institute of International Education. “IIE has a long history of managing global fellowships, and we have been particularly impressed with the opportunities these fellowships have provided to address challenges and build connections across higher education in Africa.” 

Call for Project Requests and Scholar Applications

Potential host collaborators in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda are encouraged to submit a project request for visiting fellows via the online portal between now and December 8, 2016.Prospective hosts and fellows can work together to develop specific projects. The Advisory Council encourages projects that involve collaboration between multiple institutions and cohorts of faculty members addressing related topics.

In the Fall 2016 selection cycle, preferred activities are collaborative research and graduate student teaching/mentoring, though curriculum co-development projects may also be funded. Other preferred project types include projects that involve multiple institutions, cohorts of several scholars collaborating on projects together, and interdisciplinary, thematically structured projects.

Please direct all questions related to the application process to AfricanDiaspora@iie.org.

About the Hosts and Fellows

Public and private higher education institutions in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda were invited to submit a project request to host a scholar for 14 to 90 days. Prospective hosts could, but were not required to, name a proposed scholar in a project request. The proposed scholar and project request were each evaluated by a review committee and were subject to approval by the Advisory Council. Many African institutions and prospective Fellows collaborated on ideas for a project that were submitted by the institutions. IIE also maintains a scholar roster to facilitate matches, according to the discipline specializations, expertise, activities and objectives described in a project request. Scholars born in Africa who live in the United States or Canada and work at an accredited college or university in either of those two countries applied to be on the roster of available candidates.  Candidates were required to have a terminal degree in their field and can hold any academic rank. For Fellows matched with a selected project, the fellowship includes a daily stipend, transportation and visa funds and health insurance coverage.

About the Institute of International Education

The Institute of International Education (IIE) is the leader in providing international education strategies and program services. Our international approach to education—diverse, borderless, impactful—is a proven way for governments and companies to invest in global talent and solidify overseas relationships. We work with policymakers, educators and employers across the globe to prepare students and professionals for the global workforce and equip them to solve the increasingly complex challenges facing our interconnected world. An independent, not-for-profit organization founded in 1919, IIE designs and implements over 250 programs of study and training for students, educators, young professionals and trainees from all sectors with funding from government and private sources. IIE has a network of 19 offices and affiliates worldwide and over 1,400 member institutions.

About United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa)

United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) was founded in 1969 as the Africa campus of United States International University in San Diego, California.  Today, the University operates as an independent, not-for-profit institution serving over 6000 students representing 73 nationalities. It offers 24 degree programs from undergraduate to doctoral level, all of which are accredited in Kenya and the United States of America with the Commission for University Education and Senior Colleges and Universities Commission, WASC respectively.

About Carnegie Corporation of New York

Carnegie Corporation of New York was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 “to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation’s work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, the advancement of education and knowledge and the strength of our democracy.

01 Dec, 2016

Members of Convocation are hereby informed that, the Convocation Representative on Council (Professorial / Non-Professorial) elections have been rescheduled as follows:

Submission of nomination forms, Tuesday 6th December, 2016. 

Elections of Convocation Representative on Council (Professorial /Non Professorial), Tuesday: 13th December, 2016

ELECTIONS VENUES:

  • Council Chamber
  • College of Education Studies
  • Central Administration and other Offices
  • Main Auditorium
  • College Health and Allied Sciences
  • College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences
  • College of Humanities and Legal Studies
  • College of Distance Education

THANK YOU.

CEGRAD BUILDS CAPACITY OF FEMALE ADMINISTRATORS

30 Nov, 2016 By louis Mensah

The Center for Gender Research, Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD), has organized a workshop for female administrators, both senior members and senior staff members, to build their capacities on gender issues.

It was also aimed at fulfilling the mission of CEGRAD in educating and training the University community to understand gender and sexual harassment issues.

A retired Professional Administrator, Mrs. Wilhelmina Graves, who took participants through "Career Development-Becoming An Effective Administration," advised the female administrators to be time-conscious in all their endeavours.

According to her, as administrators, they must be reliable, committed and passionate about their work.

Mrs. Graves explained to participants the various categories of administrators, skills required from administrators and how administrators could develop their career.

She urged them to further their education so they could climb the administrative ladder.

The veteran administrator also took the participants through the rudiments of writing minutes and reports.

Taking her turn to address the participants, the Acting Director of the Gender Centre, University of Education, Winneba, Ms. Obaapanin Oforiwaa Adu, who presented a paper on the topic "Work/Family Life Balance; Time Management,” urged female administrators to balance their work and family life effectively.

She noted that some effects of an imbalanced work were low productivity, high absenteeism, low morals, poor communication and team work.

She stressed that female administrators could improve on their lives if they took courses in time management, replace negative relationships with positive ones, organise their work life, use technology, stay healthy as well as attending social events and practising their hobbies.

Addressing the participants on the topic "Gender and Sexual Harassment in the University Administration", a Research Fellow at CEGRAD, Dr. Angela Akorsu, outlined measures the University had put in place to curb sexual harassment.

She said the University had formulated sexual harassment policy to address sexual harassment issues.

Again, Dr. Akorsu urged the participants to report sexual harassment issues to the Counselling Center or CEGRAD for redress.

In her welcome address, the Acting Director of CEGRAD, Dr. Genevieve Adukpo, noted that the workshop was to create a common platform for all female staff to enhance their capacity.

She said CEGRAD would continue to organise workshops to sensitize the University community to understand gender and sexual harassment issues.

 

News

Female Administrators Urged to Protect the Image of UCC

30 Nov, 2016 By louis Mensah

The Director of the Directorate of Research,Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC), Prof. Samuel Anim, has urged female administrators to protect the image of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).

To this end, Prof. Anim charged them to inculcate the sense of professionalism in all their endeavours at the workplace.

The Director advised the female administrators to discard the notion that the University belongs to government and was not their personal property, adding that female administrators' relationship with the University does not end after their tenure with the University.

"Your relationship with the University doesn't end after your tenure with the University. Your relationship with the University will go on generation after generation", Prof. Anim said this when he chaired a workshop for Female Administrators (Senior Members and Senior Staff category) organized by the Centre for Gender Research, Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD) at the College of Distance Education Conference Room.

Prof. Anim advised them to be time conscious in the exercise of their duties.

He challenged the participants to eschew the idea that research was for only members at the academic faculty.

"Whether you are administrative staff or academic staff, you need to think about research", Prof. Anim said.

He commended the leadership of CEGRAD for coming out with the workshop to hone the skills of female administrators in the University.

The Acting Director of CEGRAD, Dr. Genevieve Adukpo, noted that the workshop was to create a common platform for all female staff, both academic and administative, to enhance their capacity.

She said CEGRAD was working hard to achieve its mission to educate and train the University community to understand gender and sexual harassment issues.

The Deputy Registrar, Training and Development, Rev. Isaac Baafi Sarbeng, called on the female Administrators to adopt proper customer relations practices in their dealing with both staff and students of the University.

He advised all the female administrators to avoid unprofessional attitudes at their workplaces and come out from the workshop with renewed working attitudes.

 

 

News

CIE in Collaboration with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Holds Public Lecture

29 Nov, 2016 By louis Mensah

A Professor from the Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, USA, has delivered a public lecture on the the topic “Caribbean Masculinity and Enslavement”. The Centre for International Education (CIE) in collaboration with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Social Science organized the lecture. The lecture was to explain the issue of the construction and performance of masculinity in the context of slavery. In his presentation, Professor Linden F. Lewis, who is an Associate Dean of Social Sciences at the Bucknell University, indicated that slavery as an institution was fundamentally an economic phenomena. He said slavery had a profound social, cultural, psychological, demographic, political and environmental implications for the Caribbean. The Head of Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Dr. Brempong Osei-Tutu, remarked that the lecture was part of the efforts to strengthen the collaboration between the two universities. Dr. Osei-Tutu said, it was important that the lecture interrogated how men in Commonwealth Caribbean constructed their masculinity under enslavement from the beginning of the sixteenth century through the first four decades of the nineteenth century. The Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Professor Akwasi Kumi-Kyereme, who chaired the function, commended the Prof. Lewis for availing himself for the lecture. Present at the lecture were the Junior Assistant Registrar of CIE, Mr. Alfred Ghartey, Faculty members and students of the University.          

News

Department of Surgery Holds International Surgical Conference

28 Nov, 2016 By louis Mensah

The Provost of the College of Health and Allied Sciences, Prof. Harold Amonoo- Kuofi, has re-echoed the importance of research in the forward march of any institution.

To this end, Prof. Amonoo- Kuofi has appealed to students and health professionals to show keen interest in research so as to enrich their knowledge and provide better services to their clients.

Prof. Amonoo said this at the 6th International Conference on Surgery organised by the Department of Surgery under the College of Health and Allied Sciences for medical professionals and students.

 The Conference,spanning from November 28 to December 1, 2016, is on the theme "Optimizing Surgical Outcomes".

 The Provost, who was speaking at the opening of  the Conference, commended the leadership of the Department of Surgery for the initiative to help professionals and students to be abreast of the modern ways of surgery.

The founding Head of the Department of Surgery, Prof. Samuel A. Debrah, who presented a paper on the topic "Genesis and Maturation of a University Department", took participants through the principles and aspirations of the Department, the core activities, vision and mission statements and the Strengths,Weaknesses,Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of the Department.

For his part, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, noted that health issues play crucial role in the development of any country.

According to him, no national development programme would succeed if the workforce of a country was not healthy.

"You need healthy people to support whatever initiative you need as a nation," he stressed.

Prof. Oduro challenged health professionals to educate the public on surgery.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor indicated that the University would support any initiative that would come out from the Conference.

A lecturer at the Faculty of Surgery, University of San Diego, USA, Dr. Allison Bendtson, lauded the Department of Surgery for the initiative.

She said the Conference would deepen the existing collaboration between the Faculty and the Department.

The Conference brought together stakeholders from academia, security agencies, civil society organisations and students.  

News

Prof. Baidoo Donates Books to Department of Sociology And Anthropology

28 Nov, 2016 By louis Mensah

A lecturer at the Kennesaw State University, USA, Prof. Samuel Baidoo, has donated assorted books to the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. He appealed to the students at the Department to make judicious use of the books. Prof. Baidoo said the gesture was his personal social responsibility to facilitate teaching and learning at the Department. The Head of Department, Dr. Brempong Osei-Tutu, who received the donation, thanked Prof. Abaidoo for the kind gesture. Dr. Osei-Tutu said that the books would significantly help improve teaching and learning at the Department. He assured the donor that the books would be put to good use.

News
28 Nov, 2016

“Can Spaces Speak, Sing, or Dance? The Search for Ethnomusicological Pasts in African Slave Dungeons”
Historical ethnomusicologists investigate “ethnomusicological pasts” by analyzing performances, recordings, music manuscripts, musical instruments, and oral histories. None of these artifacts were available when I studied how enslaved Africans used music and dance to cope, resist, and survive in the slave dungeons. Elmina Castle, my field, was odorous “empty “black and green algae-covered chambers enclosing damp, bumpy floors caked with ancient human waste and blood. There were no documented histories about human activities or witnesses. I did not observe, participate, or immense myself in any performances. Tour guides did not mention music. Should we conclude with this ‘absence and silence’ that the Africans for whom music had been an integral part of life, did not sing or dance in the dungeons? Could it be an indication that such performances were overlooked and/or omitted from accounts? How could one fill these “gaps” that history’s silence has caused?
In this talk, I reflect on how we might investigate ethnomusicological pasts in historic spaces for which there are no recorded histories, artifacts, witnesses. I employ different modalities of interpretation to explore musical pasts of people whose experiences have been neglected. The approach moves us beyond traditional ways of interpreting histories, music, performance, spaces, and the lives of people in distant times. It advances an important paradigm for how historic studies can be effectually tied to ethnographic analysis. Ultimately, it contributes to new perspectives in field methods in ethnomusicology, anthropology, sociology, other ethnographic disciplines, and the production of texts.
Presenter: Prof. Ama Oforiwaa Aduonum, Visiting Professor, Department of Music and Dance
Presentation Chair: Dr. Florian Carl, Department of Music and Dance
Date: Tuesday, November 29, 2016
 

VICE-CHANCELLOR RECEIVES MD OF SAFE

24 Nov, 2016 By louis Mensah

 The Managing Director of the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education (SAFE), Dr. Deola Naibakelo, has called on Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah to congratulate him on his appointment as Vice-Chancellor.

Dr. Naibakelao, who is currently based in Addis Abba, Ethiopia, was on a routine visit to the Sasakawa Centre to assess their progress of work.

The Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education has been associated with the University for over two decades and has presently established similar facilities in 20 other institutions in nine African countries since its pioneering work in Cape Coast.

Welcoming his guest, Prof. Ampiah commended the Managing Director for his key and pioneering role in establishing the Sasakawa Centre at UCC.

The Sasakawa Centre, according to Prof. Ampiah, has good record and history and therefore charged them to endeavour to break new grounds to meet the changing times in society.

The Department of Agriculture Economics and Extension will soon commence a course in Agribusiness and run it as part of their extension programmes. To this end, Prof. Ampiah urged the Department to ensure that it came to fruition to provide training for those who want to venture into that area.

Buttressing the Vice-Chancellor’s call, Dr. Deola said every programme run by any of the SAFE institutions started from UCC.  “SAFE sees Ghana is our Mecca”.

Dr. Deola said the funds programme are now catching up like wildfire since many institutions in Africa were knocking on their doors to be brought on board.

“For UCC we will continue to include and involve you, since you are a mentoring institution for all new ones”.

“This is to show you how huge UCC is to drive the programme in Africa. It is a long- standing relationship that has been established and will continue for a long time to come”.

Present during the courtesy call were the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, Registrar, John Kofi Nyan, Head, Department of Agriculture Economics and Extension, Prof. Festus Annor-Frimpong, a Lecturer at the Department of Agriculture Economics and Extension, Dr. William Ghartey and Ag. Director, Directorate of Public Affairs, Major (retd.) Kofi Baah-Bentum.   

Administration

Pages