First year students of the School of Graduate Studies have received intensive training in e-resources and Mendeley at a seminar on campus. The seminar, held in collaboration with the Sam Jonah Library, was aimed at building the capacity of the students to be abreast of e-resources and Mendeley during their academic research. A senior Assistant Librarian, Ms. Paulina Nana Yaa Kwafoa, who took the students through searching information on the Internet, said Google, Meta Search Engine, Subject Gateway and Data bases are examples of search engines. She stressed that because there was no system of quality control in the use of search engines, students should be skillful in their research. "You need to be skillful in your research, you need to know what to look out for when using search engines because anybody at all can put anything on the internet," she advised. Mr. Kwasi Opuni Karikari, one of the resource persons who made a presentation on Mendeley, said it is a free cross-platform application (Windows, OSX, Linux, iOS, Android) that helps one to organize and manage the materials one rely on to do his research. He said Mendeley analyses users' activity to recommend new reading materials and to suggest potential contacts. He said Mendeley helps to create groups to share reference materials and work together with others and therefore, called on students to use Mendeley's word processor plugin to easily create citations for materials one have added to his library. Present at the seminar were the Vice-Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, Prof. Kamkam Boadu and the University Librarian, Mr. Clement Entsua-Mensah.  

A former Director of the Counselling Centre, Rev. Prof. J. K. Essumang, has underscored the need for first year students to make good use of their time in order to achieve their academic goals in the University. "At the University, you cannot afford to waste time. If you mean to achieve your academic goals of study (and) to pass your exams with good grades, you need to make good use of your time. This means that you'll need to learn how to manage your time, " he advised. Rev. Prof. Essuman made these statements when he gave a presentation on the topic " Managing Academic and Time Challenges" at the C. A Ackah Lecture Theatre, Auditorium 900. The three-day seminar, organised by the Counselling Centre dubbed “Empowerment Seminar”, which targeted first year students from the five colleges, was on the theme "Attaining Academic Excellence through Good Study Habits and Responsible Lifestyles." Rev. Prof. Essuman mentioned negative attitude towards studies, lack of motivation, distraction and procrastination as some of the behaviours which waste students' time. The former Director recommended the Study Skills Unit of the Counselling Center to students who were facing academic challenges. Dr. J. O. Attram, the Counsellor at the Students' Representative Council Hostel, who spoke on “Handling Challenges of Responsibility, Independence and Balance”, noted that the Independence and social side of students’ life could be one of the most enjoyable aspects of university experiences. He, however, said some students were unprepared and struggle to deal with some of the responsibilities that come with new found freedom, such as dealing with changing friends and balancing social life with academic life.He stated that challenges of responsibility, independence, balance, time management, financial, physical and life skills were some of the difficulties students encounter during their first semester transition to the University. Dr. Attram urged students to patronise the services of professionals at the Counselling Centre whenever they were " feeling disconnected, struggling to develop habits such as time management, comparing themselves to others and becoming discouraged, having difficulty managing relationships, both at home and at school." Taking her turn to address students on the topic " Managing your Sexuality and Building Opposite Sex Relationship", the immediate past Director of the Counselling Centre, Dr. Mrs. Linda Dzama Forde, noted that in unhealthy relationships, one person makes all the decisions, uses guilt control, amongst others. She said as regards healthy relationships, both partners " respect each other's boundaries, could share their feelings and needs, have common goals and a sense of direction, can share their sexual history, can share partner with others without feeling jealous, among others." She advised students to end relationships in a healthy way. In his remarks, the Director of the Counselling Center, Prof. Godwin Awabil, observed that the underlying philosophy of the Center " is a viable approach for assisting students to remove obstacles that prevent healthy functioning." He said, "in accordance with this philosophy, we make use of three major treatment approaches, namely, individual counselling, group counselling and seminars to enable students prevent or solve problems." Prof. Awabil added that through seminars, the Center was able to equip students with knowledge and skills to enable them to deal effectively with life in and outside school. The Provost of the College of Education Studies, Prof. Eric Magnus Wilmot, chaired the seminar.  

A delegation from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has paid a courtesy call on the management of the University. The visit was also to renew the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between University of Cape Coast and the University of Hildesheim, Germany. The interdisciplinary Graduate School ‘Performing Sustainability Cultures and Development in West Africa’ initiative is a collaborative training network for postgraduate students of the University of Hildesheim (Germany), the University of Maiduguri (Nigeria) and the University of Cape Coast (Ghana). The programme offers students the opportunity to learn and exchange experiences in an international academic environment with scholars from Nigeria, Ghana and Germany. It targets qualified young scholars and students who may be in their early stages of a Ph. D programme (1st year) or about to apply for one of the graduate programs offered by the University of Cape Coast. In addition, the University of Hildesheim (Germany) offers a split-side doctoral programme, which provides certification from the two participating universities. A precondition for entering the Graduate School is a researched Master’s degree in the humanities, social sciences, cultural sciences or cultural policy respectively. Successful applicants will be expected to enroll into a relevant graduate program offered by the University of Cape Coast. Giving the rationale for the visit, the Provost of the College of Humanities and Legal Studies, Prof. Dora Edu-Buandoh, said the team has concluded a process to select six Ph. D students from the University and thought it wise to call on the Vice-Chancellor and his management team and also sign a new MoU to replace an old one that has just expired. Leader of the German team, Prof. Dr. Rimund Vogels noted that they were very interested in building a solid programme to train students in their respective fields. Prof. Vogels indicated that the capacity building project is a starting point to building a strong collaboration. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah said it was very refreshing to have such collaboration since it fed into his vision of building a formidable research capacity in the UCC. Prof. Ampiah noted that the University cherished the opportunity to be part of the collaboration and would do its part to make it a win-win situation for all partners. “It is something we need to push, people at UCC will do their part to make it work”. He urged the other partners not to hesitate to call on management if there were other things do to enhance the collaboration. He later signed the MoU on behalf of the UCC.  

Adehye Hall, affectionately called Royals, has climaxed its 54th Hall Week with a colorful grand durbar. The week-long celebration was on the theme " Women in Enterprise Development: The Role of Tertiary Education." Speaking at the grand durbar, a Banker and a Retired Army Officer, Nana Kwesi Amoako, advised students to be creative and innovative in creating jobs for themselves so as to reduce unemployment in the country. He urged students to come out with creative and innovative skills to make themselves self-reliant. He advised Royals to seize the opportunities available to them on campus to start their own businesses. “You don’t need to wait and get out of school and be jumping from one office to the other looking for a job, where you are going to have problems with managers and directors and CEOs trying to go to bed with you before they can help you with a job,” he cautioned. Mr. Amoako called on young entrepreneurs to find a mentor in life, adding that mentorship would help them to realise their dreams and achieve greater heights. He advised students to be very smart in life and to be time conscious in all their endeavours, emphasising that "time lost can never be regained." The Hall Warden of Adehye Hall, Ms. Paulina Yaa Kwafoa, in her address, advised students to refrain from all negative tendencies that could jeopardize their academic lives. She said Adehye Hall would not compromise the health of its residents and would continue to stand tall as the neatest Hall in the University. Consequently, Ms. Kwafoa urged all residents to keep the Hall clean to prevent any diseases. She explained that the Hall ensures that training was given to Royals in order to make them women of substance. “I must confess that Adehye Hall inculcates good virtues in her Royals to excel everywhere. The Hall continues to ensure that the Royals are trained in all spheres of their lives, traditionally, culturally and intellectually", she said, to cheers from the audience. Ms. Kwafoa bemoaned the lack of wardrobes as one of the major challenges facing the Hall. "I mentioned it(wardrobes) at last year's Hall Week durbar that majority of our students’ wardrobes are dilapidated, forcing most of our students to keep their belongings on their bed", said the Hall Warden, who was clad in the Hall traditional cloth. The Hall President, Ms. Mahalia Esi Bamford, extolled the remarkable achievements the Hall had chalked during her presidency. She called on students to take their studies seriously and work hard to take up positions of trust in the society. The Hall durbar, which was interspersed with colourful cultural performances by the Adehye Cultural Troupe, saw the enstoolment of a new queen mother with the stool name Obaahemaa Rachael A. Coffie. As part of activities marking the Hall Week, the Hall donated 30 packs of toilet rolls and medical equipment to the Children's Ward of the University Hospital.