Auburn University (AU) is committed to deepening collaboration with the University of Cape Coast. To demonstrate this, AU will roll out two outreach programmes with UCC in 2018. These are Youth Camp and Annual Health Clinical Programmes. This came to light when a two-member delegation from AU, led by the Vice-President of the University Outreach and Associate Provost of AU, Dr. Royrickers Cook, called on the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T.  Oduro. According to Dr. Cook, AU was making every effort to translate the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with UCC last year into reality to strengthen the relationship between the two institutions. Shedding lights on the forthcoming Youth Camp, a member of the delegation, Dr. Elizabeth Essamuah- Quansah, said AU would organise a Youth Camp in either June or July 2018 to target students in both the senior high and elementary schools. The purpose of the camp, according to Dr. Essamuah-Quansah, who is the Coordinator, Outreach Global of AU, was to educate the students on how to prepare variety of dishes and also enlighten them on how to make academic presentations. Again, she noted that the students would benefit from training on sanitation and hygiene. Touching on Annual Health Clinic to be held in March 2018, Dr. Essamuah-Quansah said AU would  bring students from its School of Nursing to Ghana to embark on health screening in some rural communities in the Central region. She said AU Nursing students would  partner their counterparts from UCC School of Nursing  to screen beneficiaries for eye and throat examinations, diabetes, hypertension,amongst other health conditions. She added that those with serious conditions would be referred to the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital for further treatment. Dr. Essamuah-Quansah indicated that AU would collaborate with the Centre for Teaching Support to equip faculty from different colleges with the requisite teaching skills. That, she said, would be done both online and onsite and indicated that participants would pay a token and receive certificate of participation at the end of the two-week course. For his part, Prof. Oduro thanked Auburn University for the extra mile of commitment and assured the delegation that UCC would support the programme.  In a related development, the two-member delegation from Auburn University met the Central Regional Minister, Hon. Kwamena Duncan.  The delegation, led by Dr. Cook, appealed to the Minister to support the upcoming Annual Health Clinic with logistics. He indicated that AU would also organise Entrepreneurship session to graduates in UCC to sensitize them on the need to set up their own businesses. The Minister, on his part, thanked the delegation for choosing the Central Region and expressed his readiness to support the good cause by AU.    

A two-day capacity workshop has been organised by the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC) for Senior Members of the College of Distance Education (CoDE) to hone their skills in the discharge of their duties. A former Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Kobina Yankson, who took participants through the topic " Mentorship at University of Cape Coast”, noted that mentorship forms an essential part of the progression of every higher educational institution. He said since 2008, UCC had advocated mentorship at every sphere of the academic  ladder and, therefore, advised Senior Members to mentor newly employed colleagues for them to impact positively on the current crop of students.  Unlike the era of Ordinary and Advanced Level systems of education, he noted that, currently academic background of students had changed considerably to the extent that teenagers are now admitted into universities. Consequently, he pointed out that new instructional materials and approaches should be adopted to teach the students. He told the Senior Members that, “We are dealing with students who can't construct sentence well. That is why mentorship is good in our university ".  He said mentors should have in-depth knowledge of the system, work ethics, good knowledge of the vision and mission of CoDE in particular and UCC in general.  Again, he noted that a mentor should acquire supervisory skills, avoid selfishness and be approachable. He called on heads of department to assign mentors to newly recruited colleagues and periodically evaluate the performance of both the mentor and mentee. He said that mentorship was a quality assurance requirement and urged the Directorate of Academic Planning and Quality Assurance (DAPQA) to assess mentorship in the colleges, faculties and departments.   Other facilitators at the workshop included Prof. Samuel Annim, who spoke on "UCC Research Terrain". Prof. Albert Abane, touched on Article Writing, whilst Prof. Dennis Aheto gave a presentation on Research, Grant Proposal Writing.  Prof. Frederick Armah also spoke on the topic " Improving UCC Visibility ".  

The Department of Theatre Arts and Film Studies has launched the 2017/2018 Theatre Season to showcase some of the major productions to be staged within the academic year. Dubbed “A Season of Six Plays, a Dance Production and Three Classical African Films”, The production also forms part of the academic work of students.   The six plays include: Woes of a Hospital patient; the Pretty Trees of Gakwana; the Slaves; How do you want it; Classical African Films; Once Upon Four Robbers and the Bed Room. All the plays will be held at the Main Auditorium at 7pm prompt. The Department, in collaboration with the Department of Music and Dance, will also entertain patrons with various dance productions both African and Foreign. Speaking at the launch, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Hon. Dr. Ziblim Barri Iddi, commended the Department for the initiative and advised the students to take the performances seriously. He said the Ministry was committed to the promotion of   Theatre Arts in order to transform the economy.  To this end, Dr. Iddi announced that the Ministry had contracted a Chinese firm to renovate the National Theatre, to make it a modern hub for performances. He also disclosed that the government would put up a modern theatre edifice for the Department so that students will not compete with other departments to use the Main Auditorium. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, lauded the efforts of the department and students for the launch. He promised that the University would incorporate some of the burning needs of the Department in the 2018 budget. “I Promise that next year’s budget, we will incorporate some of the facilities that you will Need’’, he said. The Vice-Chancellor recollected his recent visit to South Korea to participate in Mind Education Forum at the invitation of the International Youth Fellowship, where theatre performance was used to capture the attention of youth. Consequently, he promised that during next year’s IYF Forum in South Korea, the University would sponsor two students and a lecturer from the Department to witness the Mind Education Forum.“Next year (2018), we are going to have another mind education forum in South Korea, I would want the University to sponsor two students and one lecturer”, he stated. The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. J.B.A Afful, called on members of the University community to patronize the theatre season. He commended the Department for its relentless efforts and perseverance in the face of challenges.      BELOW IS THE TIME TABLE FOR THE PLAYS: Three Classical African Films (5th-7th Oct.) Woes of A Hospital Patient/ The Deal (12th-14th Oct.) The Pretty Trees of Gakwana (19th-21 Oct.) The Slaves (26th-28th Oct.) How Do You Want It (2th-4th Nov.) Once Upon Four Robbers (9th-11th Nov.) Aszesaw (A Dance Production) (16th-18th Nov.) The Bed Room (23th-25th Nov.)