The University has held the 53rd Congregation for graduates who completed their programmes of study for the 2019/2020 academic year at the Cape Coast New Stadium.
The first day of the Congregation witnessed the conferment of Diploma and Degrees on graduates of the College of Education Studies and the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences and the College of Humanities and Legal Studies.
Statistics
For the first session, the College of Education Studies presented a total of 3, 298 graduates comprising regular undergraduate and sandwich students from various faculties and schools in the College and the Institute of Education. The College of Humanities and Legal Studies presented 1,775 students whilst those from the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences were 718. The College of Health and Allied Sciences also presented 2,202 for the third session.
Academic Calendar
Delivering his address, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, noted that the 2019/2020 academic year had been hectic as the University could not undertake most of its planned activities scheduled for the second semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He reported that in spite of the pandemic, the University built the capacity of academic senior members to undertake online teaching during the COVID-19 break to complete teaching for the semester.
The Vice-Chancellor added that apart from the online learning, lecturers engaged students for face to face on campus before they wrote their examinations. “Lecturers did extra five weeks when Management decided that, the examinations should be taken on our campus, in order to ensure that those who sat for the end of second semester examinations were our registered students,” he explained. He used the opportunity to commend lecturers for their sacrifices and dedication to duty during these critical times in the history of the world.
Activities of Colleges
Reporting on activities of the various colleges within the academic year, the Vice-Chancellor indicated that the University through the Institute of Education released a research report on Curriculum Delivery in English Language, Mathematics and Science at the basic school level in three districts in the Central Region in October, 2019. He added that the Institute had undertaken research on the state of Pre-Service Teacher Education in Ghana. “The reports from these researches will serve as a source of reference on educational issues in Ghana and also guide policy makers and implementers,” he stressed.
The Vice-Chancellor said the University has developed one-year top-up three-semester Post-Diploma programmes in Early Childhood Education, Primary Education and Junior High School Education for Diploma in Basic Education holders. “This has become important because of government’s policy to make Bachelor’s degree the minimum qualification for basic school teachers in the country,” he explained.
Prof. Boampong mentioned that through partnership between UCC and the Michigan State University in the United States of America (USA), some students of the College of Education Studies had been selected to participate in an exchange programme in the USA for the 2020/2021 academic year. “The programme which will be funded through the Reeves Scholarship programme is based in the Michigan State University,” he announced.
The Vice-Chancellor announced the commencement of a Certificate Programme in Detective Training for the Ghana Police Service in the first quarter of 2021. He noted that plans were far advanced to affiliate other Police Training Institutions namely Police Staff and Command College, Police Academy and Police Basic Training School to UCC.
The Vice-Chancellor stressed that UCC had carved a niche in the area of mentoring tertiary institutions both public and private as part of its outreach services. “It is, therefore, in line with this accolade that the Ghana Police Service has sought to affiliate its Training Institutions with the University”
Advice to Graduates
The Vice-Chancellor reminded the graduates that they were graduating at a very momentous time in human history as the world was being confronted with a deadly pandemic for the first time in a century. He urged them to put to practical use the knowledge they had acquired in both innovative and entrepreneurial way. “This will invariably amount to living my vision of building an entrepreneurial University. The world out there, even after this pandemic will leave you with no option than to be innovative and entrepreneurial,” he added.
Best Graduating Students
Mr. Isaac Mensah, a Bachelor of Education (Science) student was the overall best student in the College of Education Studies with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.9354 whilst Mr. Joel Essien, with CGPA of 3.8 was adjudged the best graduating student for the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences. Ms. Jessica Afful Tuleasi, was honoured as the best graduating student for the College of Humanities and Legal Studies with a CGPA of 3.9091 and Mr. Kelvin Israel Afful, with a CGPA of 3.8896 was the best graduating student for the College of Health and Allied Sciences.