A two-member delegation from the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Limerick (UL), Ireland has visited the School of Nursing and Midwifery in University of Cape Coast to deliberate on issues relating to the collaboration between the two institutions.
Welcoming the team, the Dean, School of Nursing and Midwifery (SNM), Dr. (Mrs.) Dorcas Obiri-Yeboah indicated that the meeting was a follow-up to previous discussions by both institutions. Dr Obiri-Yeboah, said, “The main reasons for this meeting will be to review issues concerning the programme, curricular, contents; and secondly to deliberate specifically on research collaborations that can engage both Universities to improve on their research output.”
Relevance of the Meeting
Explaining the relevance of the meeting, Dr. Obiri-Yeboah noted that this would help improve the contents of the programmes; and also to strengthen research collaborations between the two parties. “It will offer us the opportunity to strengthen applied research output that will lead to the advancement of Nursing and Midwifery,” she said. According to her, it would offer the opportunity for faculty development that is getting SNM staff from UCC to have their PhDs in UL.
Collaborative Engagement
The Provost, College of Health and Allied Sciences, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, commended both UL and SNM for sustaining the partnership for the past three years. Acknowledging the success of their previous collaborative engagement, he noted that SNM was ever ready to work together with UL, especially “at this point where both institutions will want to explore partnership on research and postgraduate exchange programmes.”
The Provost urged both parties to work hard to concretise the concept paper to introduce the PhD programme.
Progress of the Collaboration
The Leader of the team, Prof. Alice Coffey, expressed gratitude to SNM for its readiness to partner and cooperate with UL in the pursuit of common academic goals. She said, “We are here as a follow-up to progress made so far in our collaboration with SNM. This will help us formalise the three-year engagements on the proposed programme that we have already agreed upon during our previous meetings.”
Areas of Collaboration
Prof. Coffey added that the focus would be on Research and mobility of staff and students. She noted that UL was also looking forward to establishing collaborations in Ph.D. Studies in relation to research and practice and particularly to link the Padre Pio Centre in Ahoto Krom (Ankanful) and Rome. She said UL was willing to offer support to SNM to conduct Research in Practice in Ghana and compare it with research in Public Health areas in Ireland. She hoped the deliberations would yield fruitful results for both institutions.
A member of the UL team, and a Senior Lecturer, Department of Nursing and Midwifery, UL, Dr. Owen Doody, added that going forward would strengthen its partnership with UCC by exploring other areas of interest for joint PhDs programmes and Supervision.
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