The School of Agriculture has launched its alumni association at a ceremony on campus with a call on past students to help reposition the School as a “Centre of Excellence”.

Launching the alumni association known as “Agricolae”, the Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Prof. L. K. Sam-Amoah, made a clarion call on past students to contribute towards the development of the School.  He said the formation of Agricolae was long overdue, and therefore, all alumni must come on board to achieve the mandate of the School.

Explaining the rationale for the formation of as “Agricolae”, the Dean of the School of Agriculture, Prof. Elvis Asare-Bediako, said since the establishment of the School in 1975, some of the year groups had been around and therefore, there was the need to bring all of them together to support the development of the School. He said most of the School’s alumni were working in local and international reputable organisations adding that “The time has come for us to meet as old students to play a role in repositioning the School as a Centre of Excellence”

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, who was represented by the Director of Academic Affairs, Mr. Jeff Onyame, said he was excited that the School of Agriculture was forming an alumni group. He called on the alumni to help restore the School to its former status as the best among public universities in Ghana saying the School of Agriculture used to constitute about 10 per cent of the entire student population but currently it is less than two per cent”.  He pledged the support of management of the University towards the realisation of the vision of the School.

An Alumnus and a lecturer at the School of Agriculture, Prof. Daniel Okae-Anti, said the Agricolae had been formed to create a network to share complementary skills and expertise among members as well as mentor the students and fresh graduates of the School.  He said a foundation would be established to raise funds to support activities of the School. “This foundation will also engage in Corporate Social Responsibility activities to help the Alumni and for that matter the School of Agriculture and the University of Cape Coast gain more recognition” he said. As part activities for Agricolae, he announced that a homecoming event had been slated for 26th to 28th April, 2018 on the theme “Repositioning School of Agriculture as a Centre of Excellence in Education. Agricolae Our Call”.

Some selected past students at the function in a solidarity messages pledged their support to make the association a vibrant one.