A total of 15 graduate students have received an amount ranging from GH¢ 3000 to GH¢ 4000 at this year's School of Graduate Studies (SGS) Research and Awards Ceremony.
Instituted in 2015, the Research Grant is aimed at supporting qualified graduate students to produce high quality research and to enable students to complete their research on time.The 15 awardees, who scored above 59 per cent, were screened in stages in accordance with the guidelines for Research Grants and Awards.
The award winners were: Dorcas Blankson, MPhil (Soil Science); Vera Anyanwaa Essandoh, MPhil (Soil Science); Samuel Otoo, MPhil (Sociology); Asiama Aikins Amoako, MPhil (Sociology); Paa-Kwesi Sackey, MPhil (Sociology); Edwin Kodwo Kuntu Blankson, PhD (Development Studies); Emmanuel Nuamah, MPhil (Animal Science) and Jacob Owusu Sarfo, PhD ( Health Promotion).
The rest were: Louis Opoku-Mensah, M.Phil (Animal Science); Bright Opoku Ahenkorah, M.Phil (Health Education); George Agyei, PhD (Population and Health); Faustina Mensah, M.Phil (Admin. in Higher Education); Awiah Dzantor Selorm, MPhil (Geography); Simon Ntumi, MPhil (Measurement and Evaluation) and David Baidoo-Anu, MPhil (Measurement and Evaluation).
Speaking at the ceremony, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, lauded the courage, perseverance and determination of the Board, the Dean and the Secretariat of the SGS for the initiative. Prof. Oduro congratulated the awardees on their hard work and commiserated with the unsuccessful applicants for their relentless efforts.
He bemoaned the lack of funding as one of the major problems for research component facing SGS. He urged the awardees to use the Grant for its intended purposes. "Since you are the second batch of beneficiaries of this Grant, we expect that you become faithful ambassadors of this initiative of the SGS to your colleagues and the University community at large," he advised. Prof. Oduro gave the assurance that management was committed to exploring other sources of funding Graduate Research Awards. He announced that plans were afoot in completing arrangements for a research grant from the All Saints Education Trust in the U.K to support qualitative research thesis in the University.
He praised Nana Sam Brew Butler, the Chairman of the immediate past Governing Council of the University, for setting up a Research Grant for the Graduate Students' Association of Ghana.
For his part, the Dean of SGS, Prof. Ernest Okorley, commended the awardees for their excellent works and urged them to be disciplined in all their endeavours.
On behalf of her colleagues, a beneficiary, Mrs. Faustina Mensah, thanked the leadership of SGS for instituting the Grant to promote high delivery of post graduate education in the University.
The ceremony was attended by the Provost, College of Humanities and Legal Studies, Prof. Dora F. Edu-Buandoh; Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. J. B. A Afful; the Vice-Dean of SGS, Prof Kamkam Boadu, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Educational Foundations, Prof. Prosper Deku, Vice-Dean of the School of Business, Dr. Siaw Frimpong; President of GRASAG-UCC, Mr. Seth Odame-Mensah, amongst others.