A section of senior members (academic) of the College of Health and Allied Sciences (CoHAS), University of Cape Coast (UCC) are participating in a workshop on Grant and Proposal Writing at the Coconut Grove Hotel in Cape Coast.

The workshop, which will span a five-day period, is being organised by the Biomedical and Clinical Research Centre of CoHAS-UCC in collaboration with African Centre of Excellence for Population, Health and Policy, as well as Bayero University, Kano in Nigeria.

The mandate of the Centre is to promote research and grantsmanship within CoHAS in particular and the University of Cape Coast in general. 

Topics to be treated by the participants during the five-day workshop include; ‘Understanding the funder and knowing the funder requirements’, ‘An overview of the grant scoring process’ and ‘Overview of study designs for qualitative studies’. Others are ‘Data management’, ‘Defining your output/outcome/impact variables’, ‘Overview of mixed-method research’ and ‘Budgeting’ amongst others.

Addressing the participants during the opening ceremony, the Director of the Biomedical and Clinical Research Centre, Prof. Samuel Kyei, observed that the workshop would improve grant proposal writing skills, and foster more collaborations among lecturers within the University and with external partners. 

"While in our jurisdiction the mantra is “publish or perish", elsewhere it is to get a grant or perish. This new demand to get grant or perish is catching up with us quickly and as an institution, we need to up our game before it is too late" he said.

Provost of CoHAS-UCC, Prof. Martins Ekor, in a group shot with some facilitators and participants

Against this backdrop, Prof. Kyei indicated that CoHAS was making untiring efforts to use workshops to refresh and build capacity of academic staff for grant proposal writing to prepare faculty for the challenge of research and project financing. 

The Director was of the hope that UCC-industry relationship would be enhanced as the research output from "our University could be translated into finished products and or inform policy for the benefit of society." 

The Provost of CoHAS, Prof. Martins Ekor, in his remark, entreated participants to take the workshop seriously and noted that research by academics in the College would put UCC on a giant pedestal. 

He said UCC had made remarkable strides in research, stressing that participants should be able to get grants to explore new ideas and expertise in research after the workshop. 

Facilitators for the workshop are from the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC) - UCC, University of Ghana, and Bayero University.

There will also be networking and brainstorming sessions, where issues regarding grant and proposal writing will be discussed.

Participants will be presented with certificates for the five-day encounter.

Source: Documentation and Information Section - UCC

Students of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, University of Cape Coast have presented reports of their activities in some communities in the Eastern Region under the 2022 Community Based Experience and Service (CoBES) Programme.

As part of academic assessment, the Department held a day’s forum for students, who worked in teams during the CoBES period, to present their reports.

The 2022 CoBES Programme was on the theme, "Health Seeking Behaviour among Residents". 

In his opening remarks at the forum, the Head of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, Dr. Stephen Ocansey, said the CoBES programme encouraged partnership between the University and communities.

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Head of Department of Physician Assistant Studies, Dr. Stephen Ocansey

He noted that CoBES provided students with a strong community orientation to increase their awareness of the role of social, cultural and environmental factors in health and the relationship between health and development.

Dr. Ocansey noted that the presentation of reports was to build the confidence and public speaking skills of students which according to him was essential in their training. He commended their enthusiasm and active participation in CoBES activities and also urged them to give off their best in the presentations. 

During the presentation session, the students - who were in groups of eight- reported on their activities which included communal labour, health screening, among others in their respective communities.

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One of the student groups presenting its report

The communities included Adubiase, Zevor, Asabidie, Kwaboadi number 1, Kwaboadi number 2, Ayinase, Ekyereso and Adjobue all in the Eastern Region.

Lecturers of the Department who were present at the programme assessed the groups based on their presentations and activities carried. They also offered suggestions to be incorporated in their reports.

Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Johnson Nyarko Boampong, has met with the Vice-President for International Relations of University of Strasbourg, Prof. Irini Tsamadou-Jacoberger and her accompanying delegation at the Council Chamber. 

During the meeting, the two sides explored avenues to enhance academic cooperation between UCC and Strasbourg University and exchanged expertise on a number of academic issues of mutual concern.

The Prof. Boampong said the historic relationship between UCC and Strasbourg University "provides a strong base for entering into a functional strategic partnership." 

For her part, Prof. Irini Tsamadou-Jacoberger thanked Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong for the warm welcome, stressing her University's keenness on building a solid partnership with UCC. 

The meeting was attended by the Registrar, Mr. Jeff Onyame, the Provost of the College of Distance Education, Prof. Anokye Mohammed Adam; the Dean of the Office of International Relations(OIR), Prof Kwaku Boakye, the Vice-Dean of OIR, Dr. Samuel Bert Boadi-Kusi.

The delegation from Strasbourg were Mrs. Mathilde Le Clainche, the International Project Officer, Mr. Pierre Spielewoy, the International Project Assistant Engineer, and Dr. Florent Engelmann, Attache for Scientific and Higher Education Cooperation at the French Embassy in Ghana.

The Institutional Affiliation Office has organised a three-day workshop for selected health tutors who will be teaching on the University of Cape Coast’s Bachelor of Science programme in Nursing and Midwifery.

The two existing programmes will be hosted in 15 Health Training Institutions across the country from February 2023 on weekends.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, in a speech read on his behalf by the Provost, College of Distance Education (CoDE), Prof. Anokye Mohammed Adam, that the programme would create opportunities for nurses and midwives to pursue further studies to contribute meaningfully towards quality healthcare delivery in the country.

He added that the two programmes were introduced on weekends to bring quality education to the doorsteps of nurses and midwives.

“The two programmes are being run on weekends in response to numerous calls on the University by Heads of Training Institutions and students to run top up programmes leading to the award of Bachelor of Science for diploma holders,” Prof. Boampong noted.

He indicated that the tutors would be well resourced to ensure the success of the programmes after the capacity building workshop.

The Vice-Chancellor reminded the tutors that UCC believed in holistic education and learning process of the individual stressing that “The University has quality academic footprints both at the national and global levels. We are ranked the number one university in Ghana and West Africa and among the best four universities in Africa by the prestigious Times Higher Education in 2023.”

Prof. Boampong further noted that that “Quality is our hallmark and we will not in any way compromise on the standards we have set for ourselves. It is this quality that has set us apart from others”.

He implored the tutors to actively participate in all the sessions of this workshop especially our virtual participants.

Participants in the workshop joined through face-to-face, whilst others participated via virtual mode.

Some of the topics discussed at the workshop included Teaching Strategies; Approaches to Online Teaching; How to Use Zoom for Teaching; The Use of UCC Learning Management System; and Moderation of Questions.

There were presentations by Chief Examiners of the various courses from the UCC School of Nursing and Midwifery.