The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah has called for more commitment and teamwork from both administrators and academia to uplift further the image of the University.

“I commend you highly for your hard work, but you must work harder and demonstrate more commitment and trustworthiness in the discharge of your various duties”, Prof. Ampiah said.

The new Vice-Chancellor who took office on Monday, October 3, 20 16 made these remarks when he met administrators with the view of sharing part of his vision with them. It was necessary for the Vice-Chancellor to meet and discuss his plan of action with those around whom the administration of the University revolved.

It was also meant to let them know each other’s expectation so as to have a smooth transition from one era to another.

Prof. Ampiah said it would take the collective efforts of technical staff, administrators and lecturers to generate the needed learning atmosphere for the students. He said, “We should work in concert to support each other. It is not a linear way but a cyclical one so we can help the students learn”, he stated.

The Vice-Chancellor, said he strongly believed in working with theStatutes of the University and therefore urged all to “Look at it and abide by it”. He advised against the selective application of the document in order to be fair to all irrespective of personality or position.

Calling for support from each sector, Prof. Ampiah indicated, “We need not be in contention with each other, rather, we need to support and work together”, he indicated.

Prof.Ampiah called for achange in the University’s financial position in 2017 adding, “Financial discipline is not about the Director of Finance alone but all of us. Let us have value for money and accountability”.

According to the new Vice-Chancellor, there was the need to digitize most of the operations of the system in order to help reduce cost of operations. “Digitizing our University so that management will be more efficient should be our priority, we have to cut down on the usage of paper. Everybody should find or learn new ways of doing things”.

Prof. Ampiah stated that strengthening students learning systems and digitizing hospital records management system to improve on delivery at the hospital were some of the key strategies that would be pursued.

On research and capacity building, the Vice-Chancellor called for the strengthening of the Directorate of Research Innovation and Consultancy to facilitate research activities in the University. “We have to re-channel money to where it is needed to achieve our aims as a University”.

To internationalize the University, Prof. Ampiahsaid the Centre for International Education would be given the needed and appropriate support to realize the aims for which it was established.

Turning his attention to the Institute of Education, Prof. Ampiah called for efforts to return to the original mandate for which it was set up. “The Institute must do its original work because exams came to meet the Institute. We can re-establish what we used to do before examination bit was added, and rather add the examination aspect as bonus”, he added.

The Vice-Chancellor said for the College of Distance Education (CoDE) to be in competition with all others, a lot of work has to be done. Indicating that, since the number of students was declining, there was the need to find out the cause. He however, noted that even though competition was key now, CoDE’s advantage isin the quality of education given to their clients. “We have to keep the quality we provide, so people will say if I go there, I will get the best”, he noted.

Prof. Ampiah bemoaned the practice where issues before committees were discussed on the social media and asked that that attitude must be stopped. He also urged the administrators not to “act as sources of leakages”.

He called for some level of confidentiality adding, “let us separate ourselves from work and discuss issues dispassionately”.

He advised the administrators to be disciplined in the use of time and resources by respecting deadlines and also be punctual both at work and meetings.