The School of Biological Sciences under the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences has held the 3rd Annual K. N. Eyeson Lecture. Instituted in 2015, the lecture was to honour Emeritus Prof. Kojo Ndzeba Eyeson for his immeasurable contributions to the development of the School and the University. This year’s lecture was on theme “Towards Effective Social, Educational, Environmental and Health Standards in Ghana”. Addressing the gathering, an Associate Professor at the University of Western Ontario, Prof. Isaac Luginaah, bemoaned the rising spate of which academic institutions in the country were placing emphasis on humanities to the detriment of science education. “We cannot compete with the global world with a declining science”, he said, adding that “any developed nation thrives on science”. Prof. Luginaah, who is also the Canada Research Chair in Health Geography, condemned illegal mining, popularly known as “galamsey”, saying such activity was destroying the environment and water bodies and cautioned that if care was not taken to arrest the situation, the country would soon import water from neighbouring Burkina Faso. He called on Ghanaians to develop critical minds to speed up the development of the country. He appealed to the University management to motivate researchers to enhance their research capacities for the University, in particular, and the nation, at large. For his part, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, announced that this year (2017), the University would organize Senior Citizens’ Day to honour all pensioners of the University for their remarkable contributions towards the development of the University during their heyday. The announcement was in response to an earlier appeal made by Emeritus Prof. Kojo Ndzeba Eyeson to have such a Day instituted to honour retirees of the University. The move, according to Prof. Ampiah, would also afford the retirees opportunity to interact with the management of the University and to make them feel at home. He challenged faculty members at the School of Biological Sciences to pool their resources to assist the welfare of all pensioners who passed through the School. “When people are alive, we should remember them; we should support them; and in so doing others will see that it pays to work hard”, said Prof. Ampiah, who chaired the event. Emeritus Prof. K.N Eyeson attended the St. Monica’s School (1942-44) Government Boys’ School (1952-51), Mfantseman School (1952-57) for his ‘O’ Level and ‘A’ Level examinations all in Cape Coast, and studied for the B.Sc. Honours degree in Zoology (1958-62) at the University of Ghana. He proceeded to the University of Leeds and between 1965 and 1968, obtained a PhD in Zoology, specializing in Comparative Endocrinology. Emeritus Prof. K. N. Eyeson had gone through all the gamut of teaching in the University of Cape Coast: he was appointed Assistant Lecturer by the University in 1963, he was promoted to Lecturer (in 1965) and then a Senior Lecturer in 1972. By dint of hard work, he was promoted again to the rank of Associate Professor in 1978 and ultimately to Professor of Zoology in 1988.

The University has held the 11th Session of the 49th congregation for the Institute of Education where a total of 1, 899 students were graduated. The congregation recorded 54% female students graduating out of the total number of students who pursued the Bachelor of Education (Basic Education) and (Early Childhood) through the sandwich mode and 45% males. They were from the St. Louis College of Education, Kumasi, St. Joseph College of Education, Bechem, SDA College of Education, Koforidua, St. Teresa’s College of Education, Hohoe, and the Holy Child College of Education, Sekondi centres. Addressing the graduands, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said the Institute would continue to train tutors of colleges to build on their research capacity and also partner them in undertaking research in teacher education and professional development. Prof. Ampiah announced that the University would soon migrate the records of all students of the Institute onto the University of Cape Coast Online Students Information System (UCCOSIS) with that of the Institute’s Learning Management System (LSM). “With this migration, learning will be individualized since each student will have a personal portal to access examination results and other information related to academic work. The migration will also help to eliminate avoidable errors and duplications”, the Vice-Chancellor said. According to the Vice-Chancellor, plans were underway to link the Institute to international research agencies and institutions, as well as development partners that provide funding for research. “These collaborations and linkages we believe will help to project the image of the Institute as a leading teacher education centre in the Sub-Sahara Africa”, he added. Prof. Ampiah said there were plans to institute a periodic research on issues in basic education, pre-service and in-service training to inform policy dialogue on improving education quality in Ghana. He advised the graduands to step out of their comfort zone in order to bring the needed change to their communities. “You will never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone: change begins at the end of your comfort zone. I charge you to step out and show the world what you are made of. People may try to discourage and belittle you, but always stand bold and say to yourself YES I CAN”, he advised. Belinda Narkuor, from the St. Teresa’s College of Education Centre at Hohoe, emerged as the best graduating student with the CGPA of 3.95. She took away a laptop computer and an amount of GH¢ 800.

The School of Nursing and Midwifery has organised a dinner for both faculty members and students from the Kirkhof College of Nursing, Grand Valley State University (GVSU), USA. The visiting students and faculty were in Ghana for an outreach programme to familiarise themselves with the Ghanaian healthcare systems. The collaboration between the Department of Nursing and Midwifery and the GVSU Public Health Nursing which started in 2013 is aimed at establishing and improving partnership with both local and international collaborators in the area of Public Health. Speaking at the dinner, the Head of the delegation of GVSU, Prof. Sylvia Mapepe, commended Ghana for the quality of healthcare system and its impact on public health. She thanked management, staff and students, particularly School of Nursing and Midwifery, for the cordial and warm hospitality accorded the delegation. Prof. Mapepe noted that the partnership between GVSU and UCC was a life-time programme, adding, "My desire for seeking partnership with UCC to gain international knowledge, skills and information about caring for Global citizens for my students has been fruitful ". For his part, the Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Prof. Alex Pappoe, expressed gratitude to the delegation for the visit. Prof. Pappoe urged both faculty and students of GVSU to use the knowledge acquired through their studies in Ghana to benefit society. Sharing her experience of the outreach programme, a Doctor of Nursing Practice, Laura Hall, lauded Ghanaian nurses in the various community healthcare centers for their professionalism and care for their patients. A Master of Science in Nursing student, Danielle Hartig, also observed that nurses in Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) Zones were very open and courteous to their patients. Also sharing her observation, a Traditional Nursing student, Kaylee Case, indicated that she was overwhelmed by the support of local authorities in the communities for helping to promote the health needs of people in their area. The School of Nursing and Midwifery presented souvenirs to their visitors, who also reciprocated the kind gesture by donating assorted books and GVSU branded souvenirs to the School.

The University of Cape Coast (UCC) and Auburn University, USA, have held a day's colloquium to solicit views on how the two universities can embark on outreach programmes to assist communities they found themselves. The colloquium created the platform for the two institutions to learn from each other about issues and challenges associated with outreach programmes and to help improve on the quality of outreach services rendered to their respective countries. The Vice-President for University Outreach and Associate Provost, Auburn University, Dr. Royrickers Cook, who spoke on Maximizing University Industry Relation: The AU Experience ", said that his job at AU is to facilitate the connection of AU to the world. Dr. Cook said that AU had a special unit that focuses on outreach in industrial relations in communities in Alabama, where the University is situated. The Provost said with Outreach, AU is concerned with every single aspect of the University.As a result, he observed that faculty members working with the College of Education have been doing extensive research on industrial techniques that would improve teachers' ability to teach well in the classroom. He noted that the School of Nursing in AU trains nurses to work across the States to provide quality healthcare for the citizenry. Dr. Cook said that AU also provides training for Alabama state revenue collectors on how to collect taxes. Also, he pointed out that AU trains city managers to better manage their cities well, among other outreach programmes done by the University in Alabama, in particular, and USA, in general. Taking his turn on the topic" Outreach Initiatives and Opportunities in UCC," the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said that UCC has been embarking on outreach programmes to generate income to sustain the University. He noted that, as a result, UCC goes outside its purview to reach out to the communities and generate income from them to sustain the activities of the University. Touching on Research, Prof. Ampiah said UCC had involved in outreach through the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC) by providing consultancy for ministries, departments and agencies to generate income for the University. He mentioned that UCC also has broadcasting station that runs the University’s programmes and also runs adverts for individuals and companies within Cape Coast as part of income generation drive. The Vice-Chancellor mentioned that the Kindergarten, Primary School, Junior High School and the University Hospital provide services to staff of the University and the general public which also serve as a source of revenue for the institution. He said that UCC had established University Enterprises Limited to generate income for the University. Prof. Ampiah further mentioned the Water Production Unit where water is produced and sold and added that the University had partnered Ghana Oil (GOIL) to put up a fuel station to serve the citizenry in and outside the community as part of “monetary outreach". He said University was mentoring other university colleges to build their capacities.The Vice-Chancellor said the Institute of Education mentors 46 Colleges of Education in terms of certification, curriculum and their assessment to generate income. Prof. Ampiah also said that UCC was reaching out to the populace through its Sandwich and Distance Education programmes. " We are reaching out to many people who don't want to leave their work places or who cannot afford to leave their work places but still want to study. We use this to reach out to these people and also generate income for our University", the Vice-Chancellor said. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K.T Oduro, moderated the event, which was held at the Institute of Education Conference Room.