The University of Cape Coast in collaboration with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), has held a sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of a Law and Governance building complex for the University of Cape Coast. The building complex, worth five million US Dollars ($5,000,000), will be financed by the GNPC as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Addressing the gathering at the ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, expressed profound appreciation to GNPC for accepting to sponsor the project.

He indicated that the building complex will host offices of the Faculty of Law, the Institute for Oil and Gas Studies, and the Chair of the Petroleum Commerce Unit.

“We hope that when the building complex is completed, we will be able to continue training the needed human capital for the nation’s development,” he said.

The CEO of GNPC, Dr Kofi Koduah Sarpong, explained that the GNPC Board took the decision to commit to the project at UCC to promote research into petroleum commerce. He noted other reasons which were to strengthen the legal aspects of the petroleum commercial enterprise.

“Another reason is to put up this infrastructure so that the University will take advantage of developing professional Law Studies in Cape Coast.  We hope that once the Institute takes off, it will serve people living in the Western and Central Regions so that they do not have to necessarily travel to Accra for professional legal studies,” he said.

The Central Regional Minister, Hon. Justina Marigold Assan, also expressed her gratitude to GNPC for the support, saying that the project would in the long term benefit the Central Region and Ghana as a whole. She gave assurance that the Central Regional Coordinating Council will partner with UCC in development to help transform the Region.

Present at the ceremony was the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dora Francisca Edu-Buandoh; the Registrar, Mr Jeff Teye E. Onyame; the immediate Past Vice-Chancellor of UCC, Prof. Joseph Ampiah Ghartey; Provosts, Members of the Team that submitted the proposal for the construction of the building complex; Deans, Directors, Heads of Department, and Staff of GNPC.

The College of Education Studies (CoES) has launched an Adoption of Schools Project

themed “Community collaboration for improving the performance of schools: Our

corporate social responsibility”.

Speaking on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, the Provost of the College of Humanities and

Legal Studies (CHLS), Professor Francis Eric Amuquandoh, expressed worry over the

decline in the performance of schools in the Central Region. He said it has therefore

become necessary for the University step in to help resolve whatever issues that are

contributing to the decline. “This will help to identify where the problem lies and help

turn the situation around so that Cape Coast and the Central Region in general will be

counted among the leaders when it comes to education.” he said.

The Provost of the College of Education Studies, Professor Ernest Kofi Davis, disclosed

that the College had adopted seventeen (17) schools made up of fourteen (14) Basic

Schools and three (3) Senior High Schools. The College has plans to adopt more schools.

The Provost therefore called on individuals and stakeholders to support the College to

expand the program. “The project is currently funded by Departments and Centres within

the College. When we get funding, we will scale it up. We appeal to funding bodies that

are interested in student learning outcomes in education to come to our aid to enable us to

scale up the project.”

The Central Regional Director of Education, Mrs Martha Owusu Agyeman, commended

the College for the impressive initiative and reiterated the commitment of the Regional

Education Office to support and help sustain the project.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong has been appointed as a Governing Board Member (West Africa Region) of the Association of African Universities (AAU). The 17-Member Governing Board of the AAU was inaugurated during the extra-ordinary General Conference which was hosted virtually.

As per its constitution, the AAU concluded a process of nominations and election for the new Governing Board after the expiration of the tenure of the old Board.

The new Governing Board is mandated to implement key decisions made by the AAU General Conference, which is the highest authority of the Association responsible for determining its general policies and direction. The new Governing Board assumes office immediately.

The Association of African Universities is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization created by African Universities to promote cooperation among them on the one hand, and between them and the international academic community on the other. Created in 1967, the AAU is the voice of higher education in Africa.