The Faculty of Arts has celebrated its brilliant and hardworking students at the maiden Dean’s Award Ceremony.

The efforts of these students who were from level 200 to level 400 with Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate (CGPA) of 3.6 and above were acknowledged with presentation of certificates.  In all, 57 students were presented with awards including 27 for level 200, 13 for level 300, and 17 for level 400.

 In his address, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. J. B. A. Afful, explained that the purpose of the ceremony was to celebrate students who have performed exceptionally in their academic work and were qualified for First Class Honours. He expressed gratitude to the awards committee for working tirelessly to ensure a successful ceremony.

The Guest Speaker, Dr. Georgina Yaa Oduro, who spoke on the topic “The Phenomenological Journey” advised the students to focus on their studies. She urged the awardees to guard against any form of complacency so that they could complete their programmes successfully. "If you want to add value to your achievement, be focused and determined", she advised.

The Chairman for the Ceremony, Prof. R.N. Osei, congratulated the faculty for training highly qualified human resource for the country over the years. He commended the Dean of the Faculty for introducing this laudable initiative.

Prof. Osei said the aim of education was to make students useful citizens. "We are inculcating values that will transform your personality. It is our duty to provide you with knowledge and it is your duty to learn and you must not leave the University with the same mindset you came with", he noted. He also advised students to have confidence in themselves adding that “Having critical attitude towards anything that comes your way is the hallmark of education”.

Present at the awards ceremony, were some Heads of Department, lecturers and students from the Faculty.

A Professor of Development Economics at the School for Development Studies, Prof. John Victor Mensah, has decried the incessant politicisation of the country’s industrialisation by succesive governments.

Analysing the trend of performance of the industrial sector under various governments from the era of independence to date, Prof. Mensah described Ghana’s industrialisation as largely rhetoric.

Prof. Mensah made these statements when he delivered his Inaugural Lecture on the topic “Ghana’s Industrialisation-Rhetoric or Reality?”

Making Industrialisation a Reality

The Development Economist, posited that, with the exploration of crude oil and gas, the government, private sector and civil society need to work in a concerted manner to undertake innovative and pragmatic actions to make industrialisation a reality. Prof. Mensah said the importance of the industrial sector could be seen in terms of value addition of primary goods, prolonging the shelf life of perishable goods, creating employment, conserving foreign exchange earnings and through exports.

Developments in Ghana's Industrial Sector

Outlining developments in the industrial sector over the years, Prof. Mensah said immediately after Ghana’s independence, the government launched a massive industrialisation drive. He stated that the 1960-1970 period was characterised by Import Substitution Industrial (ISI) policies and income stagnation adding that the 1970-1983 period was marked by structural problems and economic decline.

Prof. Mensah indicated that in 1984, after the introduction of Economic Recovery (ERP) and Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) policies, the economy started to recover slowly. However, he noted that “Until the production of crude oil in commercial quantities in 2011, the relative contribution of the industrial sector to national output remained at the bottom after agricultural and services sectors”.

In 2011, he said the services sector contributed 48. 5 per cent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), followed by industry (25.9%) and the agricultural sector (25.6%). “This is the first time in Ghana’s economic history that the industrial sector narrowly outpaced the agricultural sector,” he stated. He explained that the industrial growth was strongly driven by oil, construction and mining sub-sectors adding that beyond 2011, services and industrial sectors showed slight growth while agricultural sector recorded negative growth. “Here one would argue that Ghana’s industrialisation is becoming a reality” he noted.

Export of Raw Industrial Outputs

In spite of the positive signs recorded in the 2011 period, Prof. Mensah said the industrial sector was characterised by exports of virtually no value addition of crude oil, minerals and other industrial outputs, thereby still suffering from external shocks in commodity prices.

Prof. Mensah said the poor performance of the industrial sub-sector was evident stressing that “Prior to 2008, manufacturing was the leading sub-sector of the industrial sector, followed by the construction sub-sector. However, Prof. Mensah said the contribution of the manufacturing sub-sector showed declining trend throughout the period of 2007-2015 as construction became the leading sub-sector. “This suggests that the manufacturing in Ghana is rhetoric,” he noted.

Prof. Mensah mentioned political instability, internal economic mismanagement, inadequate capital for operators, rapid depreciation of the cedi, high cost of credit and trade liberalisation as some of the factors inhibiting the growth of industrialisation in Ghana.

The immediate former Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. D. D. Kuupole, has called on the University to enhance its engagement with communities to address challenges affecting them.

Prof. Kuupole said it was important for the University to strengthen its engagement with communities within and beyond the institution’s geographical boundaries in all aspects of their livelihood for optimum satisfaction.

The former Vice-Chancellor was speaking at the Faculty of Arts Lecture Series on the topic “University-Community Engagement: the Case of University of Cape Coast”.

Prof. Kuupole commended some Faculties/Schools which were vigorously engaging in community services with the aim of mobilising research capacity to address community problems and aspirations. He mentioned the Community Based Experience and Service programme (CoBES) of the School of Medical Sciences, the Department of Population and Health Community Project at Yamoransa, Theatre for Development Outreach project by the Department of Theatre and Film Studies among others.

The former Vice-Chancellor said though UCC has been engaging the communities surrounding the University, efforts must be made to find ways of making a significant impact on the lives of people living in these communities. “Have we been able to effectively engage them to know their needs so that we can empower them to solve their problems?” he asked.

Prof. Kuupole recommended a comprehensive policy on community engagement to be implemented by Colleges, Faculties/Schools/Departments to develop, transmit and apply knowledge for the public good in some identified communities. He noted that one of the action plans of key thrust 5 of the 2018-2022 University of Cape Coast Corporate Strategic Plan, was to develop one Community-based Social Laboratory by the end of 2021.

In his explanation, Prof. Kuupole said “Community-engagement is an umbrella term that describes the many ways in which members of a university-community use their skills, talent, and energy to benefit a wide array of communities within and beyond the university, while at the same time providing students of the university with rich, real-world learning experiences”. He said University-community engagement was a necessary practice; that should not be ignored.

Through university-community engagement, Prof. Kuupole noted that the human resource of the community could be harnessed to achieve the goals of the community as well as enhancing the relations between the University and the Community. He further noted that “Its importance for staff and students of the University include improved institutional commitment to the curriculum, improved student retention, enhanced uptake and use of research and knowledge products, employability of graduates, and use of services and increased material and financial support.

The lecture was chaired by a former Provost of the College of Humanities and Legal Studies, Prof. Stephen B. Kendie.