A two-member delegation from the Kennesaw State University (KSU) has held discussions with the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, on a new initiative set to be rolled out by KSU in 2019/2020 academic year. According to the leader of delegation, Prof. Sam Baidoo, the new initiative will centre on educational abroad, where students from KSU would visit the University of Cape Coast (UCC) for a six-week experiential training programme.  Prof. Baidoo said KSU students would undertake some courses at UCC such as Africa Literature, which is also a course at KSU. He explained that the courses should be equivalent to academic programme at UCC. It is against this backdrop that Prof. Baidoo visited the University to discuss the modalities and academic calendar of the University to suit the new initiative. Prof. Baidoo, who was accompanied by the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at KSU, Prof. Robert H. Robin, used the opportunity to discuss with Vice-Chancellor the intention of KSU to assist UCC to introduce Criminal Justice programme at the Faculty of Law. For his part, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah thanked delegation for the visit. Prof. Ampiah told the delegation that the new initiative would further strengthen the collaboration between UCC and KSU. He said the University was ready to embrace the initiative and subsequently briefed the delegation on the academic calendar of the University. Present at the meeting the were Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan;  the Dean of the Center for International Education (CIE), Prof. Rosemond Boohene; a Senior Assistant Registrar at the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, Mrs. Georgina Asi Owusu; the Assistant Registrar,Public Affairs, Mr. Felix Adu-Poku, and a Junior Assistant Registrar at the CIE, Mr. Alfred Ghartey.    

The University of Cape Coast through the Centre for Teaching Support (CTS) and the Institutional Affiliation office (IAO) has organised a five-day training workshop on Assessment and Research for academic staff of the College of Health and Well-Being, Kintampo and the Department of Nursing, Methodist University College, Wenchi campus.  

The training programme which would be replicated in all institutions affiliated to UCC is aimed at building the professional competencies of academic staff to provide quality services of the highest standard. Opening the five-day programme, the Director of CTS, Prof. Douglas D. Agyei, said the workshop was aimed at building the tutors to adopt best practices in assessing their students; supervising students’ research and writing and publishing articles. He said as the mentor of over 52 private and public training institutions in Ghana, UCC has rolled out these series of capacity building workshops to strengthen quality academic work in all its affiliate institutions. Prof. Agyei said UCC’s focus was to groom each affiliate institution to become independent in the near future. “There’s no mentoring institution whose focus is to be a mentor for its whole life. Our hope is that one day this mentoring relationship will come to an end. This means you should be in a position to stand on your own and mentor others once it has ended,” he stressed.  The Director of CTS reiterated UCC’s commitment to the holistic development of affiliate institutions, saying “We want to ensure that all the institutions UCC is mentoring will develop quality wise but should be ready to be on their own and mentor others; the immediate effect is to ensure quality in output and in the long term have an institution that will stand on its own”. Speaking about the importance of the workshop, Prof. Agyei said “the Vice-Chancellor as well as the management of UCC and the Committee of Institutional Affiliation have key interests in the workshop”. He assured that UCC would not renege on its commitment to help uplift affiliate institutions as quality institutions of learning in Ghana and beyond.   In his remark at the opening ceremony, the Head of the Institutional Affiliation Office, Mr. Justice Agyenim Boateng, explained that the workshop would help address the misunderstanding and confrontations that occasionally ensue between UCC assessors and lecturers or tutors of the various affiliate institutions during pre and post moderation exercises. He noted that a similar workshop has already been organized for over 180 lecturers and professors who have been visiting affiliate institutions for moderation.  He indicated that through the workshop, certain standards have been developed to guide moderation exercises in affiliate institutions. “This workshop is to help us work together to streamline the moderation exercise and also ensure that we do quality work,” he added. The Principal of the College, Mr. Solomon S. Allotey, commended UCC for organizing such an important training programme for tutors of the College. He was optimistic that the training programme would help them improve on their work and also develop them professionally in their academic career. He expressed gratitude to the team from UCC and also thanked Mr. Boateng for coordinating the workshop. The facilitators for the workshop included, Prof. Agyei, Dr. Samuel Essien-Baidoo, Dr. Eric Anane and Dr. Isaac Buabeng. Prof. Agyei and Dr. Essien-Baidoo took the tutors through Research Methodologies and Effective Project Work Supervision & Writing and Publishing Articles while Dr.  Anane discussed with them types of Assessment, Learning Outcomes/Blooms Taxonomy of Cognitive Learning, Table of Specification and Objective Type Item Construction.  Dr. Buabeng, on the other hand made presentation on the Construction of Essay Type Questions. The workshop recorded 96 participants from College of Health and Well-Being and 4 tutors from the Department of Nursing, Methodist University College, Wenchi Campus. Some of the participants who spoke during the evaluation of the workshop commended UCC for organizing such an important workshop. They also thanked the facilitators for engaging them through practical sessions and requested for regular training programmes that would enhance their skills and develop their academic career. Formerly known as Kintampo Rural Health Training School (KRHTS), the College was established by the Ministry of Health in 1969. The College which is the first of its kind in Ghana trains middle-level health professionals in the field of community medicine and Clinical Psychiatry and Community Mental Health at the bachelor and diploma levels.

The twenty-four member committee set up to review the old Corporate Strategic Plan has presented its draft report to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, at his office. When approved, the new Corporate Strategic Plan will span from 2018 to 2022 and will replace the old Corporate Strategic Plan, which will expire at the end of 2017. Presenting the Report, the Chairman of the Committee, Prof. Kofi Awusabo-Asare, on behalf of his colleagues, commended the Vice-Chancellor for giving them the opportunity to serve the University in that capacity to review the old Corporate Strategic Plan. He noted that the committee would avail itself for clarifications on burning issues contained in the new report. Receiving the Report, Prof.  Ampiah expressed appreciation to members of the committee for a good work done. He said he would present the report to the University Council - which is expected to meet this month (December)  to peruse the report before approval. The Vice-Chancellor assured the committee that the Strategic Plan would be ready for use in 2018. In a related development, the Committee for Restructuring of the College of Distance Education (CoDE), chaired by Prof. S.B. Kendie of the Institute for Development Studies, has presented its report to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, at his office. The report is expected to restructure the College of Distance Education to run University approved and accredited programmes. The Vice-Chancellor, on his part, expressed gratitude to Prof. S. B. Kendie and other members of the committee for a yeoman’s job. Prof. S.B. Kendie was accompanied by the Provost of the CoDE, Prof. Isaac Galyuon, who is also a member of the committee, and the Registrar at CoDE, Mr. Opoku Oku Afari, Secretary of the committee.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, has extended a message of goodwill to students at the start of the end of the  first semester examinations of the 2017/18 academic year.

Prof. Ampiah, together with the Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan and the Director of Academic Affairs, Mr. Jeff Onyame, toured a number of examination centers to acquaint himself with preparations and to motivate the candidates.

His first point of call was the C. A. Ackah Lecture Theatre,formerly CELT, where the Chief Invigilator, Dr. Osei N. Owusu, briefed him on the development at the center. Dr. Owusu told the delegation that there were no absenteeism recorded and  added that the students had acquitted themselves honourably. Prof. Ampiah wished the students success in their exams.

At the New Examination Center (NEC), the Vice-Chancellor encouraged the candidates to remain focus and deliver their best to attain good results.
He cautioned the students against all forms of exams malpractices and advised them to do independent work  in order not to fall foul of the rules of the examinations.

The Vice-Chancellor interacted with the Intelligence Officer, Mr. Moses Frempah, who briefed him on the security situation at the NEC. He said Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) had been installed to prevent all forms of cheating amongst candidates.

As part of security measures, Mr. Frempah said security officials have been stationed at the various examination centres to safeguard the bags and property of candidates so as to curb the high incidence of theft cases that usually resurface at exams centers.The tour ended at the Large Lecture Theatre (LLT) where the Vice-Chancellor expressed satisfaction at the progress of the examination so far. The Vice-Chancellor and his entourage used the tour to also get first-hand information about the state of furniture at the various examination centers.The examinations, which started on Monday, December 4, is expected to end on Friday, December 22, 2017.