The University of Cape Coast and the University at Buffalo (UB) have graduated the first cohort of the Leadership Empowerment Programme.

The first cohort of 23 graduates were presented certificates at the graduation ceremony.

In an address, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said the programme formed part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UCC and UB signed in 2017.  He said the focus of the MoU was to promote collaborative research, leadership and empowerment certificate programme for interested postgraduate students in the School of Business as well as those pursuing Educational Administration. In addition to this, the MoU seeks to run Educational Leadership Programme between UB’s Graduate School of Education and UCC’s Institute for Educational Planning and Administration and partnership in the area of library.

Prof. Ampiah was excited that 14 months after the signing of the MoU, representatives of UB and UCC have demonstrated commitment and enthusiasm leading to the graduation of the first cohort. According to the Vice-Chancellor, a lot had been achieved since the signing of the MoU and indicated that some faculty from UB came to hold workshops for staff in some faculties and schools in UCC. “These examples are indications of the prospects of the UB-UCC partnership and I wish to use this opportunity to call on all stakeholders to remain committed to the MoU,” he observed. Prof. Ampiah further commended the leadership of UB School of Management - Center for Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness for their exemplary support and commitment to the UB-UCC Partnership.

The Vice-Chancellor congratulated the graduands on their successful completion of their programme. He encouraged them to develop interest in adding value to their degrees through various “add-on” programmes in order to give them competitive advantage over their colleagues and peers.

On his part, the Dean, School of Management, UB, Prof. Paul Tesluk, said great things happen when two wonderful institutions with similar values and complementary strengths work together. “We live in an increasingly interconnected world and so we are able to have a partnership like this to bring our strengths together we to do to support leaders who are doing great things themselves and this is evidence of that,” he stressed.

Prof. Tesluk said since their arrival in Ghana, they have observed the bold efforts underway across the country to find innovative ways to address some profound issues in the areas of sanitation, access to health care, sports, quality education, shelter and housing. “Boldness and ambition are clearly two important and related parts of the Ghanaian culture and I urge you to put what you have learnt from this programme and take that bold action that is part of your heritage,” he added.

Prof. Tesluk stated that “there is a saying that indecision is the graveyard of good intention” and urged the graduates not to allow indecision to distract them from the wonderful work they would be doing as leaders. He advised them to be bold explaining that “people who choose to be bold and inspiring do not only get things accomplished but they do so by instigations, probe, progress and movement for themselves and those around them”.

The Vice Dean of the School of Business, Dr. Siaw Frimpong, said the programme was remarkable in the annals of the two universities as part of internationalization and collaboration between the two institutions.  He explained that “UCC Leadership Empowerment Academy is a one-year certificate competency-based self-learning programme developed to enhance personal and professional leadership skills to equip students to fit in the ever dynamic competitive leadership positions in the business world. Dr. Frimpong noted that the programme has come at a time where leadership has become a key factor to the success of every sector of the economy. “It is imperative that every student seeking a postgraduate certificate should have a leadership empowerment skills to enhance their performance,” he pointed out.

Dr. Frimpong said the first cohort of 25 students comprising 20 from the School of Business and five from IEPA enrolled in June 2018. He said as part of the programme structure, seven students led by Dr. Mrs. Abigail Opoku Mensah visited UB for a two-week experiential learning.

The Vice Dean of the School of Business said the programme fell within the objective of training business students adding that “we, at the School of Business and IEPA, have embraced it with all our support”. He expressed appreciation to Management of UCC and UB, Dr. Dorothy Siaw-Asamoah of UB for spearheading the programme and the two coordinators at UCC, Dr. Mrs. Abigail Opoku Mensah and Dr. Michael Boakye-Yiadom.

Dr. Susannah Mayhew, the daughter of the first Director of the Directorate of Physical Development and Estate Section (DPDEM), late Mr. Alan Mayhew, has visited the University Primary School.

Dr. Mayhew who was at the School to inspect a Science Laboratory project sponsored by her father was accompanied by her husband, Mr. Michael Hammer and their children Annelie and Nicholas.

Receiving them, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said the University was grateful to the family for their interest in the development of the University Primary School. “We are happy that after so many years of your father’s services to the University, you still have a connection with us,” he noted.

Prof. Ampiah said the children would grow up having fond memories of their grandfather’s contribution to the Primary School in particular and the University in general.  He was hopeful that the collaboration between UCC and the Mayhew family would be enhanced to immortalize the good works of Mr. Mayhew.

On her part, Dr. Mayhew said she was very young when her father was working in the University in the 1960’s. She said her father designed the buildings for the Kindergarten and after leaving the services of the University, he still had strong connections with the Primary and Kindergarten until his demise. She said, her late father devoted some amount of money for the construction of the Science Laboratory.

Dr. Mayhew thanked the University Primary for honouring her father by naming a walkway after him and also putting up the laboratory in honour of him. She gave the assurance that the family would still continue to have close connection with the School.

The family later interacted with teachers of the Primary School and Kindergarten.

Present were the Registrar, Mr. Kofi Nyan; Director of Legal Consular and General Services, Mr. Moses Abnory; Ag. Director of Public Affairs, Major Kofi Baah-Bentum (Rtd); Director of DPDEM, Mr. Philip Ntim and Headteacher of Primary School Mrs. Georgina Aglobitse

The Sandwich Students Christian Fellowship (SSCF) has celebrated 20^th Anniversary of its existence in the University on the theme “Celebrating 20 Years of God’s Faithfulness.”

The two day-celebration was marked with Musical Concert and a Thanksgiving Service. SSCF Choir, Minister Paolo, Minister Cephas Essien, Ramsome Liturgical Arts and other artistes performed at the Musical Concert and each of them thrilled the audience to soul inspiring worship songs as well as danceable tunes which kept them on their feet throughout the programme.

Giving the exhortation, the Chairman of the Chaplaincy Committee, Rev. Prof. Seth Asare –Danso, called on the students to acknowledge the Lord’s blessings upon their lives and how he has transformed SSCF over the years.  “God is a God of hope in the midst of difficulties,” he assured. He said God has been so faithful to the fellowship and they had every cause to celebrate the goodness of the Lord.

Quoting Lamentations 3:23 from the Holy Bible, Rev. Asare-Danso said God’s love for humanity has no measure and he will remember them in times of trouble.  He said no matter the challenges they were going through in their life and studies, they should be rest assured that the Lord had not forgotten about them. “Remember that despite the stress, quizzes, assignments, referrals and discomfort on campus, the Lord will help you sail through,” he encouraged them.

Rev. Asare-Danso later inaugurated a set of musical instruments and public  address system which the fellowship has purchased for church service.

Rev Emmanuel Abole, who is the founder of SSCF said he started the fellowship with the first batch of 38 sandwich students who were mainly Principals of Training Colleges in 1998.  He explained that, the Government at the time was upgrading the Colleges of Education into tertiary institutions and, therefore, Principals of the Colleges who had Diplomas had to attain a minimum of Bachelor’s Degree in order to qualify as heads.

Rev. Abole said the University later introduced more programmes during the Sandwich period and this increased the number of students in the subsequent years which eventually affected the number of members of the fellowship. He indicated that due to the increasing number of members of the fellowship, worship services had to be moved from the House Prayer to Old Library then Large Lecture theatre and finally ended at the Main Auditorium where they currently worship. He noted that the Chaplaincy Board was currently overseeing activities of the fellowship.

The fellowship also honoured Rev. Abole with a citation for his vision to form  SSCF and serving as its patron since its inception.

The Second Animal Care and Use in Research Education and Testing (ACURET) Workshop on Laboratory Animal Welfare in Developing Countries has been held at the Sasakawa Centre in the University.

The workshop which attracted participants from South Africa, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Ghana and the United States of America sought to bring to the fore the need to apply and enforce ethical regulations in the handling of animals used for research.

The theme for the workshop was: “Advancing Science: Assuring Responsible Use in Animal Based Experimentation in Developing Countries”.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said the level of institutional animal care in developing countries was limited. It was, therefore, appropriate for the workshop to come out with procedures that would make institutions function competently in the handling of animals for laboratory work.

Prof. Ghartey said the University through teaching and learning was ensuring responsible use of laboratory animals and for that matter staff and students were looking forward to build capacity and network through the workshop and for that reason was excited to be hosting the workshop.  The Vice-Chancellor mentioned that ethics was really important in research and institutions must respect that by being fair and observing the right practices required for using both animals and human beings for research.

“Many scientists fall foul to this by doing anything to animals as done in their homes. We should rather follow protocol in dealing with animals. In doing our research, UCC must pay attention to ethics, the VC, Provost, Deans, HoDs must write these protocols, we will insist on that, the lackadaisical attitudes towards ethics must cease”, he noted.

Delivering the keynote address, Prof. Felix Dapara Dakora, urged ACURET to do more for West Africa so that scientists and the people at large would show more love to these animals.  “You need to create more branches in ECOWAS and across Africa to educate and create more awareness on these issues”, he said.

Prof. Dakora said ethics was about moral and immoral living about right or wrong and urged participants to behave in more ethical manner as they carried out their research works. “As young scientists you need to know that, there are no short cuts to life, you need to sweat it out to succeed”, he advised.

Prof. Dakora said years ago, it was thought that animals were solely meant for food, so we could do anything to them, but things have changed and there was the need to have some amount for animal and apply same to them when they were brought to the laboratory.

The President of the African Academy of Sciences, said: “We have to recognize that the low level of research accounts for what we do to animals not only in the open, but in the laboratory as well”.

He said ethics committees existed in public universities in Africa to evaluate human participants in research and clinical trials but not for non-humans. He again, mentioned that there was no legislation and trained personnel to handle animal care in most African countries.