The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has organised a festival of nine lessons and carols to usher staff and students into the Christmas season.

The  event featured choirs such as Voices of Accountability and Pax Romana who thrilled the gathering with a wide repertoire of Christmas songs and choral music.

The congregation sang and danced to the glory of God for His graciousness towards the nation, staff and students of the University. The service witnessed a splendid performance from Mr. Frank Guilford, a trumpeter, who  treated the gathering to good music, attracting a continuous applause from the audience. The nine scripture lessons, highlighting on the birth of Jesus Christ, were read by the Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Prof. L.K Sam-Amoah, and other representatives of identifiable associations on campus.

In his Christmas message, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, who was represented by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, expressed gratitude to staff and students for their continuous dedication, commitment and support to the University throughout the year.

“ The reality is that the learning experiences, projects and all the successes we have chalked this year could not have happened without a great deal of commitment and support from you all. We are very grateful”, he said.

The Vice-Chancellor used the occasion to thank the chiefs and people of surrounding communities for their peaceful co-existence with the University. He urged staff and students to reflect upon the goodness of God for His mercies, adding that “although we may have unanswered prayers and wishes which have not come true.”

Prof. Ampiah appreciated God’s kindness towards the University throughout the year and encouraged staff and students to continue to work hard in 2018. The Vice-Chancellor advised:  “As we enter into 2018, let us use our time wisely and move forward as decisively and swiftly as we can. This can only be possible if we are dedicated and work as a team”. He advised staff and students to celebrate the yuletide in moderation and avoid acts that would mar the joy of the season.

Other choirs that performed at the function, which was held at the New Examinations Center,  were the National Union of Anglican Students ( NUAS) and PPCC Choir.  Fred Chituru Israel and Ridic Sax also performed at the service.

The Head of the Department of Communication Studies, Dr. Eric Opoku Mensah, has charged journalists and media practitioners to adhere to professional ethical standards in order to justify the status of the media as the fourth arm of government. According to him, without professionalism, journalists lose their claim on the right to be watchdogs of government and society. Dr. Mensah said this at the commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the relocation of ATL FM from Atlantic Hall to the Campus Broadcasting Services (CBS) edifice located behind Valco Hall. The anniversary was on the theme “Maintaining Professional Standards in Journalism – the Role of the Journalist”. He noted that the hard work and the dedication to professionalism and ethical standards exhibited by the forebearers of media work and journalism in Ghana had made the profession so attractive off late. The Head of the Department said that the forebearers of media work who fought for press freedom and independence suffered decades of persecution, made sacrifices by upholding the integrity of the profession through objectivity, fairness, truth and accuracy. However, he said the current crop of journalists had indulged in irresponsible journalism by providing political actors the opportunity to use their media to spew invectives and vituperative comments. Dr. Mensah noted that some media outlets, especially the print, had also exhibited unprofessionalism as they go about publishing falsehood and blatantly refusing to publish rejoinders, even when their stories were purely baseless. Consequently, he mentioned  interference of media owners in media production, poor working conditions of journalists, upsurge of unaccredited media training institutions as the major causes of irresponsible journalism in the country. Dr. Mensah asked journalists to rise to the occasion and embrace ethical principles and codes of the noble profession so as to maintain the high standard of professionalism within media practice. “Journalists must revisit the basic principles of truth, accuracy, fairness and objectivity which are the bedrock of journalism and foundation upon which the media in Ghana has built a positive image for itself,” he said. Among others, he called on  local newscasters to refrain from the use of derogatory remarks and unsolicited humour during news presentations,stressing that "News is not a comedy show and thus its products should not be overly reduced to that (embellishment).” He indicated that the media had a responsibility to empower their discerning listeners through comprehensive, factual, balanced and relevant information to enable them to make informed choices.   Dr. Mensah used the occasion to pay glowing tribute to CBS for maintaining professional standards and called on staff of the station to be guided by the professionalism that had characterised ATL FM.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. G.K.T Oduro, who chaired the programme, reminded the media to play their watch dog roles efficiently, to provide voice for the voiceless. He called on journalists not to allow themselves to be influenced by politicians to set the agenda for the truth. He charged the media to place the interest of the nation first above their parochial interest and challenged them to build national character to whip up the interest of the youth into volunteerism and patriotism. To achieve that, Prof. Oduro said the professional role of the media was key to inculcate the virtues of punctuality, volunteerism and patriotism into Ghanaians, especially the youth. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, on behalf of University Management, singled out Hon. Totobi Kwakye, a former Minister of Information, Prof. D.D Kuupole, the immediate former Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Emmanuel Adow-Obeng, a former Vice-Chancellor; Mr. Edwin Asamoah, a former General Manager of ATL FM, Prof. Kwadwo Opoku- Agyemang and Mr. Kwabena Antwi-Konadu, the Station Manager of ATL FM, for their immense contributions towards the establishment and growth of the radio station. He gave the assurance that Management of the University would support ATL FM to attain greater heights. For his part, the Station Manager, Mr. Kwabena Antwi-Konadu, briefed the audience on the history of ATL FM and expressed gratitude to University Management for its relentless support for the station, which was established 28 years ago. As part of activities marking the anniversary, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, who was assisted by some staff members and invited guests, cut a three-tier cake to commemorate the event, which was held at the premises of CBS.  

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, has advised nurses and midwives to serve their clients with care and empathy in the discharge of their professional duties.   He implored nurses to make an impact on humanity so as to ensure proper delivery of healthcare. “If people(nurses) know the importance of caring for those in pain; the importance of caring for the aged, they will be adding value to humanity,” he said.   According to him, when nurses show care and empathy towards their patients, they (patients) were able to recuperate fast from their medical conditions.   Prof. Oduro gave the advice at the opening of a three-day Pain Management and Palliative Care workshop organised by the Directorate of University Health Services on the theme “Pain Management and Palliative Care”.   Prof. Oduro recalled with sadness how the unprofessionalism of some nurses at a health facility in Swedru led to the demise of his father-in-law. According to him, despite his plea to the nurses to come to the aid of his father- in- law whose health was fast deteriorating, the nurses turned a deaf ear to his plea, resulting in the untimely death of the deceased. Accordingly, he reminded nurses and midwives about the mother of modern nursing Florence Nightingale’s professionalism which earned her the name “the lady of the lamp” as a result of her empathy, care, devotion, respect for human dignity, altruism, sympathy, commitment and dedication to attend to the sick and the injured even at wee hours when her colleagues were fast asleep.  Prof. Oduro entreated nurses to be committed to their work and urged them to strive to give the profession, which he described as calling, a good name. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor called on nurses and midwives to refrain from all forms of negative acts and strictly abide by the codes and ethics of the profession.   For his part, a Consultant Family Physician and Palliative Care Specialist, Dr. Mawuli Gyakobo, encouraged nurses to put the interest of patients above their own personal interests. He noted that healthcare professionals were all potential patients and, therefore, advised them to treat patients with care and love.   Other topics treated during the workshop were “Overview of Pain Management and Palliative Care”; Difficult Communication”; “Introduction to Pain”, “Mechanism of Pain”, and Practical/Demonstration: Pain Assessment”.  

The School of Graduate Studies (SGS) has held a seminar for Graduate students of the University on the theme “Enhancing Capacity for Post Graduate Research”. The seminar, which is held annually, was organised in collaboration with the College of Education Studies, College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, College of Health and Allied Sciences and the Graduate Students Association of Ghana. Presenting on the topic “Developing Instruments for Scientific Research, Implications for Analysis”, Prof. Festus Annor-Frimpong from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, explained Scientific Research as the process of arriving at dependable solutions to a given problem through planned and systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data. Prof. Annor-Frimpong continued, “In Science, we are talking about objectivity, control of bias, verification, assuring validity and reliability.” He defined Research Instrument as means, tool, device designed to measure variable(s) or information of interest. He explained that Research Instrument included questionnaires (tests, scales, ratings), interview schedule, Check list for Focus Group Discussion, and Observations. Prof. Annor- Frimpong mentioned “the search for relevant questions that might have already been developed by the investigators and related to your objectives, adopt if suitable to your objectives or use as guide in construction of the new instrument” as some of the guidelines in developing instruments for Scientific Research. Touching on Implications for Analysis, he defined analysis as the processes of organizing data for interpretation. Analysis involves coding, categorization of open-ended questions, transcribing of qualitative data (interviews), editing and checking, preparation of tables for statistical analysis, testing and presentation, Prof. Annor- Frimpong emphasised.  He took participants through topics such as Scales and Implications for Analysis, Scale Measurement and Descriptive Statistics, Items on the Research Instruments, the Likert Scale or Response Format, amongst others. Resource persons for the one-day seminar, which was held at the School of Medical Sciences Auditorium, made presentations on topics such as “Ethical Issues in Research, Ethical Clearance and Application Process; Data Collection and Management Skills in Research; and Statistical Tools, their Underlying Assumptions and Presentation.” For his part, the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, Prof. Ernest Laryea Okorley, who chaired the seminar, stressed the need for graduate researchers to take research seriously. He added that SGS would ensure that its students produce quality dissertation/thesis and, thus, advised students to come out from the seminar with different mindset towards research.