A former Pro- Vice- Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Kwabena Yankson, has said inadequate funding from central government to Higher Education Institutions(HEIs) has progressively engendered cost-sharing between students and the institutions.

According to him, if the funding gap continues to widen, the stress on the students and the institutions could exceed sustainable limit, compromise quality and thereby negatively affect the functioning of the institutions.

Prof. Yankson said these while enumerating challenges facing Higher Education Institutions at a roundtable discussion on Higher Education: Traditions, Challenges - Perspectives from Ghana" held at the University of Cape Coast.

Furthermore, he noted that facilities and resources for research were woefully inadequate in many of the Higher Education Institutions in Ghana. A situation, Prof. Yankson described, as a major source of frustration and worry for many academic staff, especially those whose disciplines require substantial equipment and financial outlay to undertake quality research.

Prof. Yankson also pointed out enrollment in vacuum as a challenge to Higher Educational institutions, saying " it has for a long time been a national norm that enrollment into HEIs in Ghana should be 60% to 40 % ratio for Science-based programs to Humanities”. Prof. Yankson noted that mechanisms should be put in place to ensure compliance with the 60% to 40 % sciences to humanities national admissions norm to produce the critical mass of scientists and technologists necessary to support rapid socio economic development.

Prof. Yankson further recommended that a Higher Education Commission that would combine the functions of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and National Accreditation Board (NAB) should be set up. He said the two bodies should under one umbrella as is in the of many progressive countries. A

According to him, the appropriate Body or Agency should be charged to periodically undertake a comprehensive human resource needs assessment of the nation to guide enrollment into the HEIs to facilitate rapid socio economic development.

He noted that government should actualise its industrialization agenda for universities to exploit a healthy university-industry relationship to reduce the financial burden on both students and staff to promote quality higher education.

HEIs, as a matter of urgency, should be effectively quantify teaching, extension and sourcing for funds and make them count in the promotion of academic staff, he added. That, he believed, would enhance enthusiasm and create healthy academic environment.

For his part, another panel member, Dr. Kiehne, spoke about the HEIs in Germany. According to him, Higher Education said in the Germany tradition, higher education was not only a means to generate graduates for the job market however, it served as a source of innovation stressing that “generating knowledge is its main goal”.

He indicated that Germany has a total of 399 Universities which had been classified as Research and Applied Sciences. The research universities focus on research whilst the applied universities are more practically oriented, he noted.

Dr.  Kiehne said Germany had a student population of 2. 8 million with about 13 percent being foreigners. He indicated that most of the foreign students were from India, Russia and China. “We don’t have a lot of students from Africa because of the language barrier or possibly we do not have a lot of links with African countries,” he explained.

He said teaching and research should be an entity, whilst students and professors create a community of practice.

On the challenges confronting Higher Education in Germany, he said Germany was losing its identity because the country had been dominated by foreigners.  “To shape a national identity that includes all, newcomers and natives is a challenge that has to be addressed by higher education and the society as a whole”, he added.

The function was chaired by Prof. Rosemond Boohene, the Dean of the Center for International Education.

The lecture formed part of the interdisciplinary Graduate School ‘Performing Sustainability. Cultures and Development in West Africa’ which is a collaborative training network for graduate students by the University of Hildesheim (Germany), the University of Maiduguri (Nigeria) and the University of Cape Coast (Ghana).

The initiative focuses on innovative research that brings together approaches from performance, arts and culture to bear on sustainable development as defined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A specific focus lies on issues of peace and conflict resolution through culture and performance.

The management and the student leadership of University of Cape Coast have embarked on a three-day retreat in Takoradi, Western Region from Friday, 23^rd -Sunday, 25^th February, 2018.

The retreat which is bi-annual enables management of the University and the student leadership to take stock of activities in the University for the past year and also adopt strategies that would help create a conducive academic environment for all members of the University.

Opening the workshop, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, underscored the importance of the retreat and explained that it was an opportunity to evaluate what has been done in the past and find ways of improving them. He called for cooperation between management and students’ leadership to help provide a serene atmosphere for students to have a lifetime learning experience.

The Chairman of the Monitoring and Evaluation Team of Management/Student leadership retreats who also doubles as the Vice-Dean of Students’ Affairs used the occasion to apprise members of the progress made with the resolutions that were reached at the previous retreat. Members observed that about 80% of the resolutions at the previous retreat has been achieved. The remaining 20% were ongoing projects such as rehabilitation of lecture theatres, improvement of ICT infrastructure and other minor projects.

Issues that came up for discussion bothered on academic, staff and students’ welfare, hall activities, security, works and services and other general issues.

At the retreat, members agreed, among other things, that first year students on the distance education programme should be affiliated to halls of residence. This is to give them a sense of belonging and also provide them with certain privileges.

The Vice-Chancellor reiterated that any student group that initiates disturbances on campus that will call for police reinforcement will be surcharged for the cost associated with the re-enforcement.

The team of University Management comprised the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah; the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Prof. G. K. T. Oduro; the Registrar, Mr. J. K. Nyan; the Director of Finance, Mrs. Elizabeth Obese.

The others members of management were Prof. L. K. Sam Amoah, Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences; Prof. Eric Magnus Wilmot, Provost, College of Education Studies; Prof. Dora F. Edu-Buandoh, Provost, College of Humanities and Legal Studies, Prof. Isaac Galyuon, Provost, College of Distance Education and Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, Provost, College of Health and Allied Sciences.

Other participants included some directors of directorates, heads of hall of residence, the Dean and Vice-Dean of Students’ Affairs, the Head of Security; JCRC Presidents of the various halls of residence; Presidents of the Student Representative Council, Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana - UCC Chapter and Distance Education Students Association of Ghana - UCC.

In all, a total of 48 resolutions were reached for implementation.

Holy Child Senior High School (SHS) has emerged champions of the Ghana Science Association (GSA) inter- school debate competition held at the University of Cape Coast.

The School won the contest with 90.2 points as against 83 points for Edinaman SHS, whilst Adisadel College placed third with 82 points.

The competition, which was organised by the Cape Coast Branch of the Association, was on the motion: “Students should be allowed to use mobile phones in SHS”.

The winners, Holy Child SHS, spoke against the motion, whilst the first and second runner-ups Edinaman SHS and Adisadel College respectively were for the motion. For their prizes, the contestants of the Holy Child SHS took home an undisclosed amount of cash, certificates each and a shield of honour for their school.

Adisadel College and Edinaman SHS contestants received certificates each and shields of honour for their schools.

Nana Ekua Yeboah Benedicta and Miss Paulina Selasie Kukuwaa Wilson, who represented Holy Child SHS, as Principal Speaker and First Supporting Speaker, respectively, opined that the use of mobile phones in SHS would cause disruption of academic work, promote immoral behaviour and cyber fraud, increase the rate of examination malpractices and pose danger to the individual in terms of explosion. The contestants further argued that the use of mobile phones amongst SHS students would cause fire outbreaks in schools due to illegal connections; it would also give students easy access to pornographic materials, adding among other things that there would be ineffective control, regulation and censorship of mobile phones.

Contestants from Edinaman SHS, represented by Affram Erica Selassie and Precious Addor, who held a contrary view, contended that mobile phones would enhance conference learning to enable students to involve in group work regardless their locations. " As students, group work will never leave our door step. Every school has day students. How do you expect day students to benefit from after school discussions? With mobile phones, students can sit at their comfort zones and discuss group work with just a conference call or create a WhatsApp group page to serve as a forum for  discussion between students and their teachers," they argued.

The debaters from Edinaman SHS, in their submission, appealed to the Ghana Education Service to lift the ban on mobile phones in High Schools and rather introduce guidelines to regulate the use of mobile phones amongst SHS students. They also supported the call by the Ministry of Communications for stakeholders in education to take a second look  at the ban on mobile phone use among second-cycle students across the country.

Masters Isaac Ayeyi Turkson and Ashley David, from Adisadel College, also debated in favour of the motion.

The President of Cape Coast branch of GSA, Prof. Victor Y.A. Barku, congratulated the three competing schools on their hard work. He said GSA organized the debate to encourage second cycle students to study science as the first choice subject. He urged the public to place premium on Science and Technology for rapid development of the country. He said the competition witnessed nine schools from the metropolis in the preliminary stage, with six schools qualifying to the quarter finals stage and three schools competing for the finals.

Sharing his perspectives on the motion with the media after the debate, Prof. Barku backed calls for the use of mobile phones in Second Cycle schools. He said:" Mobile phone is a technology. To me the question is: Is mobile phone disruptive or constructive? To me as a scientist, I will say it is constructive.It is good for our kids."

The Chief Judge for the debate, Rev. Dr. Philip Gborsong, who led a three- panel of judges from the Department of Communication Studies to award marks, said Science and Technology is the bedrock for the development of nations. He called on students and the public to propagate the study of science in their endeavours.

The function was chaired by the Dean of the School of Physical Sciences, Prof. David K. Essuman.

The Audit Committee of the University of Cape Coast has been inaugurated with a call on members to help rebrand the University.

The new committee replaces the Audit Implementation Committee (ARIC) which was charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the institution carried out the recommendations made by its External Auditors. This follows the promulgation of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921).

Members of the committee are Prof. Kwame Boasiako Omane-Antwi, chairman, Mr. Samuel Petterson, Internal Audit representative, Mr. Kofi Abaidoo, Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana, Dr. Thomas Agyarko-Poku and Dr. Edem Amenumey both representing the University Council. Members of the Committee would serve for a period of two years.

Inaugurating the committee, Chairperson of the Governing Council of the University, Mrs. Nancy Thompson called on the members to give attention to very delicate and sensitive tasked assigned them. “I have no doubt that you will carry out your assignment with diligence, commitment, objectivity, transparency and teamwork”, she said.

On the need to adhere to strict confidentiality, Mrs. Thompson said: “In executing your responsibility, members and secretarial staff may have access to confidential information. Therefore, it is important to maintain strict confidentiality of proceedings and materials to the fullest extent”. She said, she was confident of the caliber of members of the Audit committee and therefore, believed the University and the entire country would benefit immensely from their rich knowledge, expertise and experience.

The Chairperson of UCC Council later sworn into office members of the committee.

Addressing members of the committee, the Acting Director of the Internal Audit Agency, Mr. Ransford Adjei, called on the committee to ensure strict adherence rules and policies that govern financial management of the University and therefore, urged them to be abreast with the enabling Act of the University and the Public Financial Management Act (921). Mr. Adjei advised members of the committee to ensure that all policies that were not currently in place were fashioned out and made operational.

Mr. Adjei reminded the committee that it had all the powers and authority to invite persons or request for documents that would help it carry out its mandate as efficient and effective as possible. He advised members to collaborate and work harmoniously with the Vice-Chancellor since it was his responsibility now to see to the implementation of any report that the committee churned out.

In his remarks, chairman of the committee, Prof. Omane-Antwi said the committee would bring independent perspectives to bear in its work to add value to the University adding that “this committee was set up to supplement and not supplant the University”.

Prof. Omane-Antwi said the committee would employ effective risk management practices and good control measures so as to achieve the aims for which it set up. He called for support from both the management and the Directorate Internal Audit to save the University from “Bad press”.