The School of Nursing and Midwifery is hosting the sixth batch of Nursing students from Grand Valley State University (GVSU), United States of America (US) for the 2018 study abroad programme in Ghana.

Twenty two students and three faculty members are participating in a two-week Community Health Nursing programme in some communities and health facilities in the Central Region.

Speaking at a ceremony to welcome the team, the Vice Dean of the School of Nursing, Dr. Samuel Victor Nuvor, on behalf of the Provost of the College of Health and Allied Sciences (CoHAS), Prof.  Johnson Nyarko Boampong, said he was optimistic that by the end of the programme, the students would be able to compare the health system of Ghana to that of the US.  He also said they would be able to specifically compare acute care settings in the two countries.

Prof. Boampong further noted that the programme would help them to appreciate Community Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) concept in Ghana; the role of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in improving maternal health or ensuring the safety of women during pregnancy delivery and the period after delivery. “You will understand reproductive and child health care activities like family planning, immunization, child welfare clinics and breast feeding as well as the management of cold chain system for vaccines, nutritional rehabilitation, counselling  at sexually transmitted infections (STI) units.

The Provost of CoHAS was confident that the programme would provide both faculty and students of both institutions the opportunity to have fruitful discussions and to consolidate bonds of friendship adding that “It will enable faculty from both universities explore ways of strengthening the relationship perhaps, through research collaboration and faculty exchange”.

Giving a background of the programme, the Coordinator of Department of Public Health, Mrs. Patience Doe, explained that the UCC-GVSU collaboration was an initiative between the Department of Public Health of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, UCC and Public Health Nursing, GVSU. She said the study abroad programme started in 2013 with the objective of establishing and improving links and partnership with local and international collaborators in the area of Public Health. 

The Dean of the Centre for International Education (CIE), Prof. Rosemond Boohene in a presentation said the UCC had made conscious efforts to vigorously pursue its internationalization agenda.   She noted the world has now become a global village and, therefore, there was the need to collaborate in order to share knowledge and best practices. She advised faculty and students not to only concentrate on learning alone saying “Internationalisation is not only about learning but network.  I encourage you to build networks because you don’t know when you will need each other. Some of you can become president, minister or prominent personality in your respective countries so you need to establish that relationship at this point.”

 Making a presentation on   “Overview of the Ghana Health Systems, Focus on Types of Facilities and Role of the Nurse,” the Head of Research Unit at the Central Regional Health Directorate, Mr. Emmanuel Edum-Fotwe, said the Ghana Health Service was established in 2006 as the supervisory body of health institutions of Ghana whilst the Nursing and Midwifery Council was in charge of the licensing of nurses in the country. He also touched on the role nurses play at health facilities, teaching hospitals, regional, district and polyclinics as well as in CHPS compound in the rural communities.

Some of the activities for the two-week study abroad programme are “observational visit to the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital and Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital, post conference analysis of each day’s programme and Community Outreach with UCC Nursing Students Association (NUSA) at Ahotokrom in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Municipal Assembly (KEEA). Others include field replacement and rotation at urban/peri-urban health centres, cultural event at the Department of Music and Dance Laboratory, field trip to Cape Coast Castle, Hans Cottage, Kakum Rain Forest and Monkey Sanctuary.

Present at the function were some lecturers of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, the president and other executives of NUSA.

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.