The School of Economics of University of Cape Coast (UCC) has launched a development fund to raise GHS 20 million to support the setting up of a state-of-the-art Economics Research Centre.

The fund, to be known as School of Economics Development Fund (SoEDfund), is equally aimed at providing scholarships, bursaries and grants to support needy but brilliant students seeking to build careers in Economics. 

The fund will also be used to enhance capacity of staff and students to undertake innovative teaching, cutting-edge research and support the dissemination of high- quality economic policy relevant research results to the needs of national, regional and global economy.

The launch, on the theme; “Towards Building a World-Class Research-Intensive and Entrepreneurial School - The Role of Stakeholders” brought together politicians, clergy, traditional leaders, business executives, academics, students amongst others.

The guest of honour for the launch, a former Minister of Finance, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, applauded the leadership of the School of Economics for the initiative. He urged alumni of the School of Economics to give back to the School as part of their contribution to the growth of the University.

The former Finance Minister was of the view that for Ghana to compete in the fourth industrial revolution, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education was not negotiable. Hence, he challenged tertiary institutions in the country to attach importance to the teaching of STEM to create and produce a lot of engineers and problem solvers.

According to Prof Botchwey, in order not to be left behind by the fast spate of globalization, faculty and students must show strong interest in the acquisition of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) skills.

During the launch, several individuals and institutions contributed to the Fund which would be managed by a 13-member board of trustees, chaired by Prof. Kwesi Botchwey.

Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC