The Executive Secretary of the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), Prof. Patrick Okori, has lauded the University of Cape Coast (UCC) for its participation in the activities of RUFORUM. 

He noted that the contributions of UCC towards RUFORUM since 2014 had been immense and called on faculty to work towards ensuring that RUFORUM achieved its Vision 2030. 

Prof. Okori gave the commendation at a meeting with faculty from the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences (CANS), UCC.

The Executive Secretary of RUFORUM told faculty that time was ripe for RUFORUM member universities to brainstorm on education, training and research to win more international collaborations.

The RUFORUM Executive Secretary (in suit) with some senior members of UCC

For his part, the Provost of the College of Education, Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis, who received the Executive Secretary on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Johnson Nyarko Boampong, congratulated Prof. Patrick Okori on his appointment, which took effect on 1st January, 2023. 

He noted that UCC would continue to participate in the RUFORUM and pledged to make sure the vision 2030 of RUFORUM would be achieved. 

Prof. Davis called on the Executive Secretary to embrace precision agriculture to increase production. 

The Provost added that the University was restructuring its curriculum to meet the changing needs of society so that graduates of the University would not depend solely on government for employment.

Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC

A section of senior members (academic) of the College of Health and Allied Sciences (CoHAS), University of Cape Coast (UCC) are participating in a workshop on Grant and Proposal Writing at the Coconut Grove Hotel in Cape Coast.

The workshop, which will span a five-day period, is being organised by the Biomedical and Clinical Research Centre of CoHAS-UCC in collaboration with African Centre of Excellence for Population, Health and Policy, as well as Bayero University, Kano in Nigeria.

The mandate of the Centre is to promote research and grantsmanship within CoHAS in particular and the University of Cape Coast in general. 

Topics to be treated by the participants during the five-day workshop include; ‘Understanding the funder and knowing the funder requirements’, ‘An overview of the grant scoring process’ and ‘Overview of study designs for qualitative studies’. Others are ‘Data management’, ‘Defining your output/outcome/impact variables’, ‘Overview of mixed-method research’ and ‘Budgeting’ amongst others.

Addressing the participants during the opening ceremony, the Director of the Biomedical and Clinical Research Centre, Prof. Samuel Kyei, observed that the workshop would improve grant proposal writing skills, and foster more collaborations among lecturers within the University and with external partners. 

"While in our jurisdiction the mantra is “publish or perish", elsewhere it is to get a grant or perish. This new demand to get grant or perish is catching up with us quickly and as an institution, we need to up our game before it is too late" he said.

Provost of CoHAS-UCC, Prof. Martins Ekor, in a group shot with some facilitators and participants

Against this backdrop, Prof. Kyei indicated that CoHAS was making untiring efforts to use workshops to refresh and build capacity of academic staff for grant proposal writing to prepare faculty for the challenge of research and project financing. 

The Director was of the hope that UCC-industry relationship would be enhanced as the research output from "our University could be translated into finished products and or inform policy for the benefit of society." 

The Provost of CoHAS, Prof. Martins Ekor, in his remark, entreated participants to take the workshop seriously and noted that research by academics in the College would put UCC on a giant pedestal. 

He said UCC had made remarkable strides in research, stressing that participants should be able to get grants to explore new ideas and expertise in research after the workshop. 

Facilitators for the workshop are from the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC) - UCC, University of Ghana, and Bayero University.

There will also be networking and brainstorming sessions, where issues regarding grant and proposal writing will be discussed.

Participants will be presented with certificates for the five-day encounter.

Source: Documentation and Information Section - UCC

Students of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, University of Cape Coast have presented reports of their activities in some communities in the Eastern Region under the 2022 Community Based Experience and Service (CoBES) Programme.

As part of academic assessment, the Department held a day’s forum for students, who worked in teams during the CoBES period, to present their reports.

The 2022 CoBES Programme was on the theme, "Health Seeking Behaviour among Residents". 

In his opening remarks at the forum, the Head of the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, Dr. Stephen Ocansey, said the CoBES programme encouraged partnership between the University and communities.

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Head of Department of Physician Assistant Studies, Dr. Stephen Ocansey

He noted that CoBES provided students with a strong community orientation to increase their awareness of the role of social, cultural and environmental factors in health and the relationship between health and development.

Dr. Ocansey noted that the presentation of reports was to build the confidence and public speaking skills of students which according to him was essential in their training. He commended their enthusiasm and active participation in CoBES activities and also urged them to give off their best in the presentations. 

During the presentation session, the students - who were in groups of eight- reported on their activities which included communal labour, health screening, among others in their respective communities.

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One of the student groups presenting its report

The communities included Adubiase, Zevor, Asabidie, Kwaboadi number 1, Kwaboadi number 2, Ayinase, Ekyereso and Adjobue all in the Eastern Region.

Lecturers of the Department who were present at the programme assessed the groups based on their presentations and activities carried. They also offered suggestions to be incorporated in their reports.

Source: Documentation and Information Section-UCC