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Universities Must Help Build Stronger Economies-Dr. Bawumia

05 Oct, 2017 By louis Mensah

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has called on universities to play their role in nurturing and stimulating creative thinking, undertaking research on problems confronting society and informing policy making. “Universities must see themselves also at the heart of helping to build stronger economies and stronger societies” Dr. Bawumia made the call when he delivered the 3rd Advancement Lecture Series organised by the Institutional Advancement Office on the topic: “Developing Stronger Economies for African Continent: The Missing Link”. The Vice President said the recently introduced Free SHS policy signaled government’s determination to ensure that the greatest number of young people gain access to pre-university education. “Our approach to building a stronger economy must begin with the ambition and commitment to intensify the development of our human capabilities. We cannot advance in technological innovation, we cannot take advantage of technology transfer and adoption, we cannot nurture entrepreneurial skills without an inclusive access to education”, he said. The Vice President noted that Africa’s economic performance historically has been driven by resource exploitation and exports of unprocessed raw materials. “Our economies are vulnerable to commodity price shocks, sudden and unanticipated declines in prices of our commodity exports trigger revenue shortfalls and undermine our ability to implement budgets and to manage our public finances”, he said. Low value addition to both our agriculture products and mineral resources and by exporting raw materials we are unable to use these natural resources as the basis to industrialise and expand our productive capacities. Dr. Bawumia said historically, many Ghanaians have been excluded from schooling because of inability to pay fees. He spoke on the topic: “Developing Stronger Economies for African Continent: The Missing Link”. “So our strategy is to strive for inclusion to build our productive capacities. This strategy has however got to be underpinned by a commitment to fiscal discipline and macroeconomic stability to be sustainable”. The Vice President who advocated for the building of science and technology and rapid technological capacities because the world now lived in a rapidly changing technology adding that part of the missing link of productive capacity has to do with our infrastructural constraints in energy, transportation, communication and utilities. He indicated that the new path to chart was to embrace renewable energy as the primary source of energy for homes offices and public facilities. For this reason, the Vice President announced that government has introduced a policy of no power purchase agreements for thermal plants saying “Henceforth we will only sign PPAs for renewable energy”. In providing the missing link, he said another area of building a strong economy is in institutional and governance capacity through harnessing information communication technology. To make this possible Dr. Bawumia indicated that currently, there was an institutional reform in registering businesses and license renewal by introducing online registration of businesses. Another critical area being looked at is the introduction of Digital Address System with unique postal codes for every location within Ghana, Dr. Bawumia said. According to the Vice President, this would make Ghana leapfrog most advanced countries in the world as far as addressing is concerned. He added that there would also be the introduction of National Identification Cards. To achieve a more inclusive financial sector, the Vice President said an inter-operability payment system will be introduced soon. He said having an interoperable payments system between banks, mobile operators and other financial and non-financial sectors players enables people to make payments in a more convenient, affordable, fast, seamless and secure way with one account. According to Dr. Bawumia there were substantial benefits of these measures for the management of the economy and in all aspect of decision- making and planning. “They help in better targeting in the delivery of public services whether it is in education, health and other social services in line with the three fundamental SDGs”. “In building our human capital capabilities, the days of schooling for schooling sake, the ‘chew, pour pass and forget” syndrome are over. Free SHS is not a bargain for low quality”. He said developing stronger economies required transforming agriculture and food systems to cope with the pressures of population growth, demographic dynamics and food security. In addition to this, he called for a change in attitudes in the way we deal with our common wealth, saying: “Those who steal from the common wealth through embezzlement and corruption undermine our collective ability to build stronger economies”. He wondered whether in an attempt to build a stronger economy as a country, Ghanaians want to remain a resource-based economy, extracting and exporting our diminishing resource endowments; depend on generosity of others through aid or want to a knowledge-intensive and innovation-based inclusive economy. “Ultimately strong economies are built on the back of strong and steadily expanding productive capacity and on sound economic governance”, he stated.          

Administration

Ghanaians Advised to Protect the Welfare of Animals

03 Oct, 2017 By louis Mensah

Ghanaians have been advised to protect the welfare of animals in order to improve the quality of meat for consumption. The call was made at the first Annual Animal Welfare Symposium organised by the West Africa Centre for the Protection of Animal Welfare (WACPAW) and Eyes on Animals, Netherlands, in collaboration with the Department of Animal Science, University of Cape Coast. Speaking at the function, an Associate Professor of Veterinary Medicine, Sir Kt. Anthony Annan-Prah, stated that good husbandry, handling, transportation and slaughter practices give good and acceptable meat for consumption. According to him, there was the need to formulate legislation to ensure that these phases are well carried out. Sir Kt. (Prof.) Annan-Prah said there were about 8.7 million animal species on earth with 6.5 million on land and 2.2 million dwelling in the ocean depths. He indicated that in most developed countries like the United States of America, there were laws governing transportation and slaughter of animals. He said the animal should be in good health before being transported or slaughtered adding that the truck transporting the animals should also not be overloaded. A Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of the Meat Processing Unit, Dr. Moses Teye, said animal welfare has direct effect on meat quality. “Wrong animal handling even results in short shelf life of our meat and products, hence all consumers must ensure animals are treated well, before patronising their meat,” he explained. Dr. Teye noted that animal welfare was new to developing countries and therefore, out of ignorance, people do not handle animal well. “When the welfare of animal is protected, it is not a favour done the animal, but the welfare protector, rather benefits,” he intimated. Dr. Teye who is also a fellow of WACPAW said through the collaboration between UCC and Eyes of Animal, Netherlands, such sensitisation programmes would be organised on regular basis to educate the general public on the welfare needs of animals. He said through the collaboration, Eyes on Animal, Netherlands has donated a humanely slaughter device to the Meat Processing Unit of UCC. The Executive Director of WACPAW, Abdul-Rahman Safari, appealed to government and stakeholders to come up with legislations and policies that seek to regulate and improve the welfare of animals in Ghana. “It is our wish and hope of WACPAW that in the very near future, majority of our population would come to the realisation that animals are part of our lives and that we need to change our attitudes towards them to improve their welfare,” he noted.

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Student-Staff Consultative meeting

02 Oct, 2017 By Anonymous (not Verified)

The Chair of the meeting, Dr Ayebi-Arthur, gave an overview of the meeting, stressing the need that it is incumbent on faculty to constantly be in touch with students through this kind of fora during their stay on campus. Staff present was then introduced to students at the meeting. Students were reminded of the following: 1) The deadline for adding and dropping courses 2) Activities in the academic calendar for the semester 3) The Matriculation Oath 4) Interacting with Academic Advisors 5) Academic Honesty 6) Advised to always follow the lay down channel of communication in the University 7) New and revised programmes to be run by the department. Students raised concerns in relation to mounting of borrowed courses from other departs. The Chair promised to liaise with other departments to ensure that requisite courses were mounted for students in DMICTE.  

Administration

UCC Team of Assessors Visits Klintaps College

02 Oct, 2017 By louis Mensah

A team of assessors from the University has embarked on an institutional visit to Klintaps College, Tema to evaluate facilities and documents as part of the process for affiliation. The team comprised Dr. Jacob Setorglo, Dr. Philip N. Gorleku and Dr. Samuel Essien-Baidoo from the College of Health and Allied Sciences; Dr. Precious Mattah of the Directorate of Academic Planning and Quality Assurance; Ms. Paulina Kwafoa of the Sam Jonah Library and Mr. Justice Agyenim Boateng of the Institutional Affiliation Office. The visit was aimed at inspecting physical facilities; discuss institutional documents and policies such as statutes, students’ handbook, organogram, Quality Assurance Policy as well as financial plan of the College. Klintaps College is a private tertiary institution which intends to run undergraduate programmes in Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics, Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Health Information Management, Medical Imaging Sciences and Medical Laboratory when granted accreditation to commence operation. UCC would be mentoring Klintaps until such a time that the institution secures a presidential charter to award its own certificates. After inspection of the physical facilities, the Head of the Institutional Affiliation Office, Mr. Justice Agyenim Boateng, on behalf of the team commended management of the College for putting up the needed infrastructure for academic work and also asked them to restructure some of their documents to conform to UCC standards. He said the College would be granted affiliation by UCC if they implement the recommendations of the team. He further indicated that a team from the National Accreditation Board would do a follow-up visit to confirm the report of UCC before the College is finally granted accreditation to operate.  

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GCB BANK Donates Towards Advancement Lecture Series

29 Sep, 2017 By louis Mensah

GCB Bank has presented a cheque for GHc20,000 to support the Institutional Advancement Office (IAO) towards the preparation for the forthcoming third Advancement Lecture Series. The donation was also in line with GCB’s Corporate Social Responsibility to the University. Making the presentation, the Team Leader of GCB at the Corporate Bank Department (Tarkwa), Mr. Joshua Dadzie, said the gesture was to enable IAO to organise a successful Lecture Series. He explained that the Bank would continue to partner the University to achieve a common goal. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, who received the cheque on behalf of IAO, thanked GCB for the gesture and the demonstration. He gave the assurance that the University would reciprocate the gesture by helping to facilitate the growth of the Bank. Mr. Joshua Dadzie was accompanied on the visit by the Regional Manager of GCB Bank for Western and Central regions, Mr. Martin Abofra. Present at the presentation were the Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan; the Deputy Finance Director, Mr. Francis Obeng; and the Coordinator of IAO, Mr. Solomon Fakye.  

Administration

GCB BANK Donates Towards Advancement Lecture Series

29 Sep, 2017 By louis Mensah

GCB Bank has presented a cheque for GHc20,000 to support the Institutional Advancement Office (IAO) towards the preparation for the forthcoming third Advancement Lecture Series. The donation was also in line with GCB’s Corporate Social Responsibility to the University. Making the presentation, the Team Leader of GCB at the Corporate Bank Department (Tarkwa), Mr. Joshua Dadzie, said the gesture was to enable IAO to organise a successful Lecture Series. He explained that the Bank would continue to partner the University to achieve a common goal. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, who received the cheque on behalf of IAO, thanked GCB for the gesture and the demonstration. He gave the assurance that the University would reciprocate the gesture by helping to facilitate the growth of the Bank. Mr. Joshua Dadzie was accompanied on the visit by the Regional Manager of GCB Bank for Western and Central regions, Mr. Martin Abofra. Present at the presentation were the Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan; the Deputy Finance Director, Mr. Francis Obeng; and the Coordinator of IAO, Mr. Solomon Fakye.  

Administration
29 Sep, 2017

There will be presentations by members of Ghana Education Research Association - UCC branch on various topics at ERDU Conference room on 06-10-2017 at 3pm

29 Sep, 2017

There will be a proposal presentation for second year students in the MPhil Mathematic Education Programme on 05-10-2017 and 06-10-2017 at the ERDU Conference room at 10am each day. All are welcome to the presentations.

CCM and DFAS Organise 1st Conference on Fisheries and Coastal Environment (CFCE) 2017

29 Sep, 2017 By Anonymous (not Verified)

The Centre for Coastal Management (CCM) and the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (DFAS) of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) have successfully organized the maiden edition of the Conference on Fisheries and Coastal Environment, in collaboration with the University of Rhode Island (USA) and the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFAD). The event was supported with funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the USAID/UCC Fisheries Project and the USAID/GHANA Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP). The three-day Conference, held from 25th to 27th September, 2017 brought together scientists from within and outside Ghana, to deliberate on the myriad issues confronting the fisheries sector and the coastal environment at large. The scientific sessions were held on the first two days. The outcome was a draft communique to be submitted to the Government of Ghana to feed into polices for a sustained management of the country’s fisheries and coastal resources. The climax of the conference was a grand closing ceremony with a broader stakeholder attendance. In attendance were the Senior Minister, Hon. Yaw Osafo Marfo, the Vice-chancellor of UCC, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, the paramount chief of the Elmina traditional area, Nana Kojo Konduah (VI), the USAID/GHANA Missions Director, Steven Hendricks, the Chief of Party to the SFMP and representative of the University of Rhode Island, Maurice Knight, and the Deputy Minister, MoFAD. Fishermen, fishmongers and processors from all four coastal regions of the country were well represented at the all-important event. Notable among issues in the communique, as presented by the Director of the Centre for Coastal Management, Prof. Denis Aheto, were the need for Ghana to acquire a research vessel to enhance research and quality offshore fisheries data and issues on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. He also commented on the engagement of chiefs and other local authorities in the sustainable management of fisheries and coastal resources through a co-management approach. In their submissions of solidarity messages, all representatives from the four coastal regions made pronouncements on the illegal fishing methods used by fishers within their respective regions and affirmed their commitment to support government in the fight against illegal activities within the fisheries sector. In a brief remark, the USAID/GHANA Missions Director highlighted on boosting vulnerable communities, combating child labour and trafficking. He emphasized that protecting Ghana’s marine fisheries will serve a two-fold purpose to rebuild the fishing industry and prevent loss of livelihoods for coastal dwellers. In the stead of the H.E., the President of the Republic of Ghana, the Senior Minister, Hon. Yaw Osafo Marfo delivered a distinctive keynote address to prevent, eradicate and deter illegal fishing practices, which he referred to as “galamsey of the sea”, likening it to the illegal mining menace being battled by the government at present. In addition, the Senior Minister emphasized on the significant contribution of the fisheries industry to the economy of Ghana with 4% GDP, supply of 60% of Ghana’s protein requirement and providing livelihood for about 2 million Ghanaians. He urged all fish workers, academicians, NGOs and stakeholders, to help combat the menace of illegal fishing rampant in our waters and admonished the fishers to comply with the fisheries laws or suffer the full punishment when they falter. The Senior Minister further pledged the full support of his office to help rebuild the dwindling fish stocks and urged researchers and students within the sector as well as fishers, to channel their resources and efforts to finding ways to protect the sector, in order to prevent it from total collapse. His speech did not end without a plea to all chiefs in the coastal communities to help in the fight against illegal fishing practices. The event was used to launch the Fisheries and Aquaculture Society of Ghana (FASoG). An interim governing committee and patrons for the society were out doored. Nana Kojo Kondua (VI) closed the event, sharing with stakeholders his efforts at dealing with the menace and called on other chiefs to join in the fight. Source: Centre for Coastal Mangement University of Cape Coast.

Administration

UCC Builds Capacity of Colleges of Education Tutors

29 Sep, 2017 By louis Mensah

The Institute of Education has organised a two-day subject-based workshop for a cross-section of tutors from 44 public and 6 private Colleges of Education in the country. The first session catered for two tutors each for both English Language and Mathematics from each college and the second session had three science tutors in Physics, Chemistry and Biology respectively representing each college. In all, 350 tutors will benefit from the workshop comprising 100 each for both English language and Mathematics and 150 science tutors. Explaining the rationale behind the workshop, the Director of the Institute, Prof. Frederick Ocansey said reports from the Chief Examiners have identified English Language, Science and Mathematics presenting some challenges for both tutors and students in teaching and learning, hence the concentration of these courses. “As you have probably observed, the mode and structure of the current workshop is different from the previous one. Apart from the fact that the workshops were organised just before marking sessions, the workshops focused on all disciplines/subjects taught at Colleges of Education. The current round of workshops have been de-coupled from marking sessions”, he stressed. Another reason the Director proffered was that, it was to serve as Training of Trainers workshop so participants were expected to go back to their respective Colleges to organise similar workshops to train their colleagues in the skills and knowledge they would acquire from the workshop. Prof. Ocansey entreated participants to use the opportunity to evaluate activities of the Institute to help in the planning of future activities. The Institute mentors all the Colleges of Education and in view of this, Prof. Ocansey assured that series of workshops had been planned for all categories of workers of Colleges of Education.  

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