The University of Cape Coast, UCC, has won the 2017 Community Service Award. The award scheme, initiated by the Osei- Kusi Foundation (OKF) and Selfless for Africa, was aimed at providing financial support to students to help them undertake developmental projects in their communities. The University was represented by a team of five (5) students with a code name “Team Solutionists” at the competition. They were Messrs Osei Emmanuel, Danso Tony, Godswill Hygienus,and Miss Adeisu Diana Vigah and Miss Adjoa Owusuwaa, all from the School of Agriculture under the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences. Briefing the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, on the Community Service Award (CSA), the Executive President of OKF, Dr. Kofi Osei-Kusi, said the scheme had been opening participation for interesting students in tertiary institutions to form a team of three to five with a code name to compete for the award. Afterwards, he said, the scheme tasked participants to select a deprived community, research on it and present a proposal with an action plan to better the lives of the people in that community. According to Dr. Osei-Kusi, the scheme received tons of applications from students in all the public universities, including the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. At the end of the fiercely contested competition, he said, Team Solutionists won the community project, which was to build a modern fish smoking device for fish mongers in a community called Duakro, near Cape Coast in the Central region. At a ceremony held at the Accra International Conference Center, Team Solutionists was presented with a seed capital of 10,000 Cedis to implement the project, Dr. Osei-Kusi added. Dr. Osei Kusi said the gesture was OKF’s widow’s mite to encourage young people to cultivate the spirit of volunteerism, community service and patriotism. For his part, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, commended the participants for making their School and the University proud. He assured the participants that the University would support them in the execution of the project. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor thanked Osei- Kusi Foundation for the initiative to whip up the interest of the youth into volunteerism, which he said “is sine qua non for rapid economic development”. Dr. Osei-Kusi was accompanied on the visit by Mr. Prince Dwomoh, the Finance and Administrative Manager of Osei-Kusi Foundation. The Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Prof. L.K Sam-Amoah, Prof. Okae-Anti of the School of Agriculture, and Mrs. Georgina Asi Owusu, the Senior Assistant Registrar at the Vice-Chancellor's Office, were present at the meeting, which was held at the Council Chamber.  

The Chairperson of the University Council, Mrs. Nancy Olufola Campbell Thompson, has expressed her willingness to work with management of the UCC to put the University on a higher pedestal. Mrs. Thompson gave this assurance when she interacted with management of the University as part of her familiarisation tour on campus.

The Chairperson expressed excitement about the massive expansion the University had witnessed over the years. She noted that it was high time the University gained the needed prominence it deserved. “I’m aware of the numerous achievements of the University and I pledge to help move UCC further to a higher height” she added. Mrs. Thompson, an alumna of UCC, recalled her student days from 1964 to 1968 and added that the University was relatively young during those periods. She indicated that “I normally find myself in places I never expect and I didn’t think that I will have anything to do with the University, especially at this time of my age”.

She commended the various leadership of the University for contributing to the development of UCC as one of the best institutions in Ghana and beyond and called for maximum cooperation from the current management to continue with the good work.

On behalf of management, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, thanked the Chairperson for finding time to interact with them. He promised that they would work closely with her to advance the cause of UCC.

The meeting was attended by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro; Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan and some Provosts and Directors. The Chairperson was later accompanied by the Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Registrar on a tour to various facilities on campus and at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.

A Lecturer at the University of Basel, Switzerland, Dr. Christa Wichterich, has noted that “gender equality effect” is key to the advancement of any economy. She said women were very efficient and drive the growth of any country’s economy. Dr. Wichterich made these statements when she presented a paper on the topic “Womenomics and Commodification of Nature”. The workshop was organised by the Centre for Gender, Research Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD) as part of the two-week international summit on the general theme “Land Use and Mobile Livelihood: Intersectional Perspectives on Pastoralism, Migration and Displacement". The lecturer indicated that the development of many countries was lagging behind because of the exclusion of women. She, consequently, called for the inclusion of women at all sectors of the economy so as to maximise growth and production. She highlighted the G20 Marshall Plan Africa and Compact with Africa to the participants. She said the Marshall Plan with Africa would prioritize private investment on the continent, possibly while reducing or shifting official development assistance. Dr. Wichterich also explained Women 20 (W 20), which aimed at promoting women’s economic empowerment as integral part of the G20 process. In 2017, W20 focuses on four pillars, namely labour market inclusion, financial inclusion digital inclusion and strengthening the W20, she noted. Dr. Wichterich stated that the ultimate goal of the W20 is to stop Africans from migrating to Europe. In her presentation, the Director, Feminist Research Institute, UC Davis, University of California, Prof. Amina Mama, paid glowing tribute to African feminists who played roles in the emancipation of women, mentioning the likes of Huola Shaarawi, Claudia Jones, Angela Davis, Djamla Bougired and Charlotte Maxeke. She noted that many feminists advocated for the studies of Gender and Women’s Studies in African Universities. The reasons, she said, for the introduction of the studies included; intellectual and scholarly endeavour, to develop and improve scientific quality of research, overcome epistemological biases in mainstream “men’s studies”, and generate new knowledge, new paradigms, approaches to methodology. She used the occasion to commend CEGRAD for the workshop. The Director of CEGRAD, Prof. Akua Biritwum, stated that “feminist is that whole point of knowledge production should serve an interest and feminists make the chance that we should bring about social changing to better women’s lives”. Because women are gendered, the problem of land interest had compounded, she noted.

The Provost of the College of Education Studies, Prof. Eric Magnus Wilmot, has stated that quality education can be achieved if educational administrators and management play their roles effectively and efficiently. He, however, noted that low quality of education in Ghana could not be attributed solely to poor teaching and learning. “Sometimes when you talk about low quality education, many people are looking at teaching and learning. The reality is that, it starts from the administrators and management of schools,” he opined. Prof. Wilmot made these statements at the maiden Alumni Homecoming of the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA). The Homecoming, which was on the theme “Improving Educational Administration in Ghana: the Role of the IEPA Graduate”, brought together past students of IEPA to reunite and form a formidable association. The Provost wondered why public basic schools with scores of professional teachers record low marks in national examination, whilst he argued that private basic schools with half-baked teachers still perform creditably in countrywide exams. Accordingly, Prof. Wilmot pointed out that administration and supervision were the main bane of the poor standards of education in Ghana. He said people with the requisite administrative skills should be made to fill vacancies at the educational sector. Speaking further, Prof. Wilmot called on IEPA to roll out a continuous professional development programme for educational administrators and managers of schools to build their capacities in the profession. In an address, the Member of Parliament for Bia West, Hon. (Dr.) Augustine Tawiah, noted that there was the need for universities which are training educational administrators to adopt similar academic criteria to ensure that every administrator develops the same training skills so as to function optimally. He proposed the establishment of an Institute for Educational Leadership and Development at the Universities to groom educational administrators and managers and to equip them with the relevant leadership skills needed to effectively manage schools. Like the nursing, medical and legal professions, Hon. Tawiah, who is an old student of IEPA, recommended an institution for licensing educational administrators across the country. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, who also spoke at the function, stressed that educational administrators were the key to addressing the educational challenges facing Ghana. He advised past students of IEPA across the length and breadth of the country to register with the alumni association to enable them to contribute their quota and urged them to remember IEPA in all their endeavours. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, expressed grave concern at the way public administrators were made educational administrators at the expense of professionals with the requisite knowledge in educational administration. Unquestionably, he said, the move affected the quality and operations of schools. Prof. Oduro, who is a former Director of IEPA, called for re-branding of IEPA to enable the Institute to churn out fully-fledged graduates with unique leadership qualities for organisational operations. The Director of IEPA, Dr. Rosemary Serwaa Bosu, said that IEPA is the premier institute in the country that conducts research in educational issues to inform educational policy makers, as well as train educational planners and administrators at all levels of education in Ghana.This, she noted that IEPA could boast of a highly skilled, knowledgeable, experienced, energetic, committed and hard working professional workforce nationwide. Dr. Bosu stressed that IEPA has close collaboration with both the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service in developing the capacity of their staff. Present at the lecture were past Directors, lecturers and alumni of the Institute. The ceremony witnessed the presentation of citations to past Directors in appreciation of their valuable services.