The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has won the men’s category of this year’s Inter-University cross country competition held at the University of Mines and Technology ( UMAT) in Tarkwa.

ATL FM’s news report said the University of Education, Winneba, (UEW), took the second position, University of Ghana (UG) came third and the University for Development Studies(UDS) placed fourth in the men’s category. University of Energy and Natural Resouces (UNENR), UMAT, University of Professional Studies (UPSA) and University of Health and Allied Sciences(UHAS) also earned deserved positions.
 
In the women's category, University for Development Studies took the first position with 31points to unseat UCC which came second with 75 points, followed by University of Education (UEW) with 119 points to place third. University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), UPSA with 127, 206, 275 points respectively.

Speaking at the event, the Vice-President of Ghana Universities  Association (GUSA), Dr. D.K. Osafo, paid glowing tribute to the late president of the Association, Prof. J.K Orgah, describing the him as “ industrious and innovative”. He recalled the implementation of five year development plan for GUSA, initiated by Prof. Orgah, which anchored on seven strategic focus areas, namely: increase visibility of GUSA, increase participation of GUSA activities, make GUSA more effective in national sports development,  improve capacity of GUSA in service delivery. The rest are introduction of  gender and disabilities issues into GUSA activities, increase in professionalism into GUSA activities and make GUSA more financial stable. 

He said his demise was a great loss to GUSA and the nation. The Vice- President of GUSA, therefore, prayed God to grant the family and close associates of the deceased the fortitude to bear the loss. For his part, the Head of UCC Sports Section, Dr. Daniel Apaak, after the competition, congratulated UCC athletes on their performance. He said the Sports Section would strengthen the recruitment of sports women next year and called for management’s support. “I think with the support of management, we will be able to get a team that will compete against UDS ladies. The problem for us now is the ladies.” he said.

He said currently, UDS had 10 good sportswomen, all in first year, and cautioned that if no serious steps were taken to recruit more sportswomen, UDS would dominate the women's cross-country for a long time.

Below is the Table  for both men and women respectively:


MEN

Universities                           Points
UCC                                          29
UEW                                         79
UG                                          114
UDS                                        173
UNER                                      227
UMAT                                      307
UPSA                                       346
UHAS                                       399


FEMALE DIVISION  

    
UDS                                           31
UCC                                           75
UEW                                         119
UG                                             29
KNUST                                      209
UPSA                                         275



 

The Director of the Counselling Centre, Prof. Godwin Awabil, has called on teachers to teach their students study skills so that they will improve upon their academic performances. He noted that one of the missing links in Ghana’s educational system was the absence of study skills which many teachers had failed to teach the students. “We present our lessons to students and ask them to learn without the specific techniques that they would use in learning so that they can improve upon their academic performance,” he observed.

Prof. Awabil was making a presentation on “Improving the Study Habits of Students through Study Skills” at a seminar for students of Accra College of Education.

Prof. Awabil said most students fail examinations because they had not been taught Study skills and indicated that “In our educational system, from primary school to university, it is important that we teach the children not only content but methods they can use to master the information, how to take notes, manage their time, all these skills are very essentially if we want improvement in academic performance of students.

The Director of Counselling Centre explained that teaching the students study skills would help them plan their study time, read and write effectively, adding that students would be able to take notes properly, concentrate very during study and also remember what they have learnt. He further indicated that it was essential for teacher trainees to be taught study skills because, they would become effective learners; promote good academic performance and retention of students. He also mentioned that it would enable teacher trainees to become effective teachers and to be able to teach others study skills.

Taking the teacher trainees through the types of study skills, Prof. Awabil mentioned memory strategies, time management skills, concentration strategies, consultation strategies, note-taking methods, reading strategies, writing skills and test/examination taking strategies.

Prof. Awabil advised the students to be guided by the study skills strategies to help them adopt good study habits in order to improve their academic performance.

The World Bank Ghana has donated 15 laptops each to the School of Business and the Sam Jonah Library at a short ceremony in Accra.   The donation was in response to an appeal made by the School and the Sam Jonah Library for laptops to enhance teaching and learning.   At the presentation ceremony, the Senior Country Operations Officer of the Bank, Dr. Beatrix Allah-Mensah, said the donation was to encourage teaching and learning of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). She added that the gesture formed part of the Bank's Corporate Social Responsibility.   Dr. Allah- Mensah  said the Bank had been funding government's projects with the aim of reducing poverty. She mentioned the construction of the Akosombo Dam as one of the funded projects initiated by the Bank in the 60s. She further indicated that the World Bank had been assisting the Ghanaian economy in the areas of energy, education, ICT, health, infrastructure,water and sanitation, among others.   She called on stakeholders in the education sector to read the 2018 World Development Report, which focuses on learning challenges in schools. She advised the stakeholders to help school children with the needed resources to make learning easy for them at school, adding that the Report categorically pointed out that " The fact that you  have been to school doesn't mean you have learnt". Consequently, she noted that the Bank would continue to assist educational institutions in Ghana with teaching and learning materials.   The Vice-Dean of the School, Dr. Siaw Frimpong, who received the items, commended World Bank for the donation and called on other corporate bodies to emulate the gesture.  Dr. Frimpong stated that the laptops would go a long way to improve the academic performance of students and assured the Bank that the School would put the laptops to good use.   On his part, Mr. Kwame Boohene, from the Sam Jonah Library, said the laptops would help students with disability in their ICT studies. Other beneficiaries included the Ghana Technology University College and the Islamic Primary and Junior High School,Accra.

The Directorate of Research, Innovative and Consultancy (DRIC), in collaboration with the Elsevier, has organised a capacity-building workshop for Senior Members to enhance their knowledge in research and publication.   Addressing participants, the Director of Journal Services at Elsevier Publishing Development, Mrs. Annette Leeuwendal, urged academic staff to continously publish in order not to perish in the academic sector. Mrs. Leeuwendal told the participants to do proper evaluation of their research areas and also find out which journal was right for their articles, before submission.  She entreated them to visit elsevier.com to find the right journal's home page with aim and scope, accepted types of articles, readership, current hot topics and guide for authors.   Mrs. D. Leeuwendal advised participants to consider content, style and language seriously before submitting their articles for publication and added that editors do not waste time on poorly prepared manuscripts. The Director of Journal Services took participants through the ‘dos’ and ‘don'ts’ of authorship and the necessary sanctions that would be meted out to offenders by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE.).   Mrs. Leeuwendal said some of the sanctions included rejection of submission, notification of funding body and many others. She explained that the purpose of peer review was to ensure that best quality papers were selected and also to detect plagiarism and fraud.    The Speaker admitted that many publishing houses, including Elsevier, have " failed to make an effort to keep authors , researchers abreast of whatever is happening in the process of peer review ". “The principle of peer review included impartiality, transparency and confidentiality”, she said.   Mrs. Leeuwendral noted that fabrication, falsification and plagiarism were core ethical problems on scientific research and also advised researchers to refrain from acts like salami slicing. She encouraged researchers to share their works on social media platforms and mendeley stats so as to get their papers noticed across the world. She advised all researchers to register with Elsevier on www. publishingcampus.elsevier.com/workshops.   Prof. Paul  Ahiatograh,  of the College of Distance Education (CoDE),who chaired the workshop, thanked the resource person for her insightful presentation and called on academic staff to do away with all forms of plagiarism during research.