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”.

The University of Cape Coast, UCC, has launched its maiden research report for the collective benefit of society.   The 184-page document, issued by the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC), comprises research output from the colleges and other research directorates and centres of the University.   Spanning 2012 to 2016, the report also covers a plethora of research areas in the Arts, Education, Social Sciences, Medical Sciences and the Natural Sciences undertaken by individuals, departments, and faculties, either independently or in collaboration with other institutions, government and non-governmental organizations, donor agencies and development partners.   The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, who launched the report, said the University remained committed to research and was open for collaborative research efforts with other research -oriented individuals, academic institutions of higher learning, industry and development partners for cutting- edge research activities that would advance the frontiers of knowledge for sustainable development.   In the light of this, Prof. Ampiah encouraged faculty to always endeavour to research so as to make themselves and the university visible across the world.   He also charged lecturers to produce at least one high quality research informed article every year.   He commended researchers in the university for their publications over the last five years and entreated other faculty members to research to enable DRIC to capture their research activities in the next report, which will be launched in 2019.   He urged faculty to contribute to the report, to search for collaborators and seek for grants in order to do innovative research.   On behalf of the University Council, the Vice-Chancellor commended the dedicated researchers and research administrators whose research endeavors and administrative support respectively made the publication of the maiden edition of the research report possible.   The Director of DRIC, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, noted that the launch of the report was a clear demonstration of the credibility of faculty to engage in good research.   Prof. Annim used the launch to clear up some misconceptions held by a section of faculty members about the role of DRIC in the University. According to him, DRIC indulges in administrative research, whilst the other research centers in the University engage in scientific research.   He, therefore, appealed to faculty to collaborate with the Directorate regarding issues on research, innovation and consultancy, pointing out that DRIC was not established to take over research activities of faculty members.   Contrary to popular opinion, the Director stated that the Directorate has Consultancy Policy, Research Agenda and Research Policy guiding the conduct of research in the University.   He announced that DRIC had developed a trial researcher database, an online platform that would help colleagues to update themselves, as well as grants and publications.   The Deputy Director of DRIC, Prof. Fredrick Ato Armah, gave an overview of the Maiden Research Report, highlighting the total research funds, research domains attracting  more funds, areas that require funding attention and, funding agencies by category.     A former Director of DRIC, Prof. Albert Abane, who chaired the launch, urged management  to motivate researchers in the University to enable them to publish and  also to collaborate with distinguished institutions that engage in innovative research.   He entreated researchers to make their research findings available to industry players and policy makers to enhance socio-economic development of the country.   He called on major stakeholders to support DRIC to achieve its mandate.    

Dr. Kofi Amegah, a lecturer at the Department of Biological Sciences, has suggested to University Management to reserve some positions for leading researchers in the University.

 “Maybe, we can adopt Goodall’s suggestion by reserving some positions for leading researchers in the University so that if you aspire to that position you know what it takes. For instance, we can have two Vice-Deans and two Pro-Vice-Chancellor positions - one for academics and the other for research,” he said.

Dr. Amegah made the suggestion while presenting a paper on the topic: “Research Matters on the Promotion of Academic Staff in University of Cape Coast” at the 3rd Expert Forum organised by the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) Branch of UCC. The Expert Forum, a platform for members of the UTAG-UCC to deliberate on major national and local issues, was on theme “Academic Progression and Promotion of Faculty: Standards, Disclosures and Procedures”.

Dr. Amegah appealed to University Management to endeavor to change motivations of faculty members to pursue scholarships through high quality research to enable them to climb the academic progression ladder. He touched on some challenging issues that were militating against the conduct of quality research in the University such as lack of transparency, prolonged assessment process, competition for management positions and the scary of publication fees charged by good quality journals. He, however, said provision of assessors comments to clear up lingering doubts, measures to curb undue delays from assessors and provision of incentives to attract research funds were remedies to these challenges.

On the issue of single or sole authorship, he said it should be discipline specific and not based on whole sale promotion in the University. Dr. Amegah said: “Promoting sole-authorship, we should demand that a proportion of the papers we submit for promotion are first author and corresponding author publications.”

Touching on the issue of increasing the numbers of research papers submitted for promotion, he called on the University to be guided by quality as the benchmark for academic promotion in the University, and not to focus on quantity in research where assessors would fail colleagues who present such papers. On accelerated promotion, the Lecturer opined that prospective research applicants should exude high level of excellence in research and be given the opportunity to provide “a written justification as to why accelerated promotion is being sought to enable an assessment of applicants motives.”

Speaking on the topic: “Outreach Matters on the Promotion of Academic Staff in UCC”, a lecturer at the School of Medical Sciences, Prof. Ivy Ekem, described outreach as “Engaging the university and community in defining mutual concerns and together exploring ways to address them.” According to her, areas of outreach include technical assistance and technology transfer, policy analysis, organizational and community development, assistance in programme development and evaluation; professional development and service-learning activities. She asked faculty to assess outreach through documentation which was necessary for appropriate recognition and reward.

Commenting on how outreach should be done, Prof. Ekem advised both administrators and individual faculty members to be specific and clear about the commitments of faculty members to professional outreach or service. She said weighting of outreach for promotion should be based on the relevance of activities to the local community, before national and international relevance.

She appealed to the Directorate of Academic Planning and Quality Assurance to assist in developing instruments for assessing the process, the project and the project impact. The University, according to her, should make faculty expertise more widely and rapidly available to the society.

The Director of Centre for Teaching Support, Prof. Douglas D. Agyei, who spoke on “Teaching Matters on the Promotion of Academic Staff in UCC”, said the effective implementation of the criterion for considering teaching for promotion as stated in the 2012 Statues has been a great challenge. According to him, the common practice in the processing of promotions for faculty, over the years, was applicants submitting appraisal reports of their teaching by their students.

He argued that the move “has not been sufficient because such reports have not formed integral part of the final assessment in determining the ultimate decision of whether an applicant should be promoted or not”. To that end, he suggested the provision of clear indicators and guidance that would ensure a fair, transparent and equitable method of assessment for Faculty teaching, as well as setting out the criteria against which faculty promotion to different ranks in the University would be assessed.

In his view, the use of students’ appraisal or evaluation report, evidence of professional development through workshops or training programmes attended and the evidence of observed teaching should be used for assessing faculty teaching in the University.

Speaking on “Missing Matters and Procedural Issues on the Promotion of Academic Staff in UCC”, a former Director of the Directorate of Academic Planning and Quality Assurance, Prof. Kofi Awusabo-Asare, underscored the need for a clear cut documentation on teaching, research and outreach in the University. That, he said, would help faculty to be abreast of the procedural issues on promotion in the University.