The Department of Hospitality and Tourism has launched its 10^th Anniversary at a ceremony at the Main Auditorium.

Speaking at the function, the Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr. Ziblim Barri Iddi, congratulated the Department on achieving such a milestone.  He noted that tourism played a key role in contributing towards the development of Ghana’s economy. “Given the necessary support, tourism can open more opportunities for employment, foreign exchange and generally increase in people’s incomes through the value chain” he noted.

Dr. Iddi indicated that, the Tourism, Arts and Culture Industry has become global and highly competitive socio-economic environmental activity in both developed and undeveloped countries. “In Ghana the tourism sector accounts for 6% in total employment and 5.3% to GDP whiles growing at an average of 9% annually” he stated. He noted when the tourism sector was fully developed it would make Ghana a preferred tourist destination in Africa.

 As part of efforts to harness the potentials of the tourism sector for accelerated development, Dr. Iddi said the Ministry and its agencies were implementing strategic policies, plans and programmes that were geared towards increasing the contributions of the sector to the country’s economic development.  With these developments in place, Dr. Iddi said it was the expectation of the Ministry that the Department would continue to train highly skilled human resource for the sector and also build the capacities of personnel who were already on the field.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, commended the Department for producing graduates who were making positive impact in the hospitality and tourism sector in the country. He called on the Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture to support the Department to become a Centre of Excellence in Hospitality and Tourism in Ghana to build capacity of players in the sector.

Prof. Oduro entreated the Department to initiate steps to address the “long waiting time” at hospitality centres in the country “There are times you have to wait for long before you are provided certain services at restaurants and hotel” he noted.   

An alumna of the University, Mrs. Roberta Dawson-Amoah, who is the Marketing Manager, said she was impressed about the research activities of the Department. She urged the Department to liaise with stakeholders to disseminate its research works to boost hospitality and tourism in the country. “You are doing all these work but Ghana stays out there as if there is no solution to problems in the tourism sector of our economy” he stated.  She urged students of the Department to make themselves relevant so that they would gain recognition even before they enter the job market.

The Chairman for the function, Prof. Lawrence K.  Owusu-Ansah commended the Department for living up to expectation over the 10 years of its existence in the University. “What is more important is the fact that most of the lecturers and professors come from within and this is an indication that the Department has guaranteed its existence into the future,” he noted. Prof. Owusu-Ansah wished the Department a successful celebration.

In his remarks, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences said the Department has achieved a lot of success within few years of its establishment. He commended the Department for its role in training students, conducting research and building capacity of professionals in the industry.  He said the Department was one of the vibrant ones in the Faculty.

The Head of Department of Hospitality and Tourism, Dr. Kwaku Boakye said the Department had made significant achievements in the areas of capacity building, training high calibre of graduates for the industry and pursuing vigorous research aimed at improving and developing the hospitality and tourism industry. He expressed gratitude to lecturers, staff and students for contributing towards the successes of the Department. He called for support from stakeholders to enable the Department play its role in promoting and developing the sector.

As part of the launch, some students of the Department demonstrated a table set up for three course meal lunch.

Activities lined-up for the year-long celebrations include Tourism awareness creation, community and alumni engagements and grand durbar. He urged the students to reflect on the advice by alumni who spoke at the function in order to become responsible individuals at their workplace and in the society.

Present at the launch were the South Africa, High Commissioner to Ghana, Her Excellency, Hon. Lulu Xingwana, founding Head of the Department, Prof. Oheneba Akyeampong, lecturers, some heads of hospitality and tourism facilities in the country and students.

The School of Physical Sciences, has honoured 75 students who excelled academically during the 2017/2018 academic year.

The students comprising levels 100 to 300 with Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate (CGPA) of 3.6 and above were presented with certificates and cash prizes at the 2018 Dean’s Awards Ceremony.

Ms. Angelica Maisuh, a level 200 Bachelor of Mathematics with Economics student was adjudged the overall best student with a CGPA of 3.91.

Speaking at the function, the Dean of the School of Physical Sciences, Prof. David K. Essumang, said the awards ceremony was instituted to encourage students to work towards achieving academic excellence. He indicated that since the awards ceremony was instituted, the School has witnessed dramatic increase in the number of students within the first class category. “With the introduction of the Dean’s Award, we have realised that departments that were not recording first class on consistent basis can now have students within this category” he noted.

To the award winners, he advised them to work towards maintaining their current CGPA adding that “If you can’t add anything to it then don’t fall back”. To those who could not receive awards, he urged them not to be discouraged but put in extra efforts to make it in the subsequent awards ceremonies.

Prof. Essumang said the School was going through several developments aimed at promoting creativity and innovation among students.  He said the School could now boast of a merger laboratory that would be used to train students on how to build electronic gadgets like robots. “We encourage students with brilliant ideas to come out so that we can support them to refine these innovative ideas to solve societal problems,” he told them.

The Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Science, Prof. Livingstone Sam-Amoah, congratulated the lecturers at the various Departments of the School for producing such brilliant students. He told them to be proud of their achievements and aspire for excellence both in their academic career and personal endeavours.

Prof. Sam-Amoah commended the School for achieving remarkable and sustainable impact in the performance of their students. He pledged the College’s support to promote and create an enabling environment for students to excel.

The Faculty of Arts has celebrated its brilliant and hardworking students at the maiden Dean’s Award Ceremony.

The efforts of these students who were from level 200 to level 400 with Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate (CGPA) of 3.6 and above were acknowledged with presentation of certificates.  In all, 57 students were presented with awards including 27 for level 200, 13 for level 300, and 17 for level 400.

 In his address, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. J. B. A. Afful, explained that the purpose of the ceremony was to celebrate students who have performed exceptionally in their academic work and were qualified for First Class Honours. He expressed gratitude to the awards committee for working tirelessly to ensure a successful ceremony.

The Guest Speaker, Dr. Georgina Yaa Oduro, who spoke on the topic “The Phenomenological Journey” advised the students to focus on their studies. She urged the awardees to guard against any form of complacency so that they could complete their programmes successfully. "If you want to add value to your achievement, be focused and determined", she advised.

The Chairman for the Ceremony, Prof. R.N. Osei, congratulated the faculty for training highly qualified human resource for the country over the years. He commended the Dean of the Faculty for introducing this laudable initiative.

Prof. Osei said the aim of education was to make students useful citizens. "We are inculcating values that will transform your personality. It is our duty to provide you with knowledge and it is your duty to learn and you must not leave the University with the same mindset you came with", he noted. He also advised students to have confidence in themselves adding that “Having critical attitude towards anything that comes your way is the hallmark of education”.

Present at the awards ceremony, were some Heads of Department, lecturers and students from the Faculty.

A Professor of Development Economics at the School for Development Studies, Prof. John Victor Mensah, has decried the incessant politicisation of the country’s industrialisation by succesive governments.

Analysing the trend of performance of the industrial sector under various governments from the era of independence to date, Prof. Mensah described Ghana’s industrialisation as largely rhetoric.

Prof. Mensah made these statements when he delivered his Inaugural Lecture on the topic “Ghana’s Industrialisation-Rhetoric or Reality?”

Making Industrialisation a Reality

The Development Economist, posited that, with the exploration of crude oil and gas, the government, private sector and civil society need to work in a concerted manner to undertake innovative and pragmatic actions to make industrialisation a reality. Prof. Mensah said the importance of the industrial sector could be seen in terms of value addition of primary goods, prolonging the shelf life of perishable goods, creating employment, conserving foreign exchange earnings and through exports.

Developments in Ghana's Industrial Sector

Outlining developments in the industrial sector over the years, Prof. Mensah said immediately after Ghana’s independence, the government launched a massive industrialisation drive. He stated that the 1960-1970 period was characterised by Import Substitution Industrial (ISI) policies and income stagnation adding that the 1970-1983 period was marked by structural problems and economic decline.

Prof. Mensah indicated that in 1984, after the introduction of Economic Recovery (ERP) and Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) policies, the economy started to recover slowly. However, he noted that “Until the production of crude oil in commercial quantities in 2011, the relative contribution of the industrial sector to national output remained at the bottom after agricultural and services sectors”.

In 2011, he said the services sector contributed 48. 5 per cent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), followed by industry (25.9%) and the agricultural sector (25.6%). “This is the first time in Ghana’s economic history that the industrial sector narrowly outpaced the agricultural sector,” he stated. He explained that the industrial growth was strongly driven by oil, construction and mining sub-sectors adding that beyond 2011, services and industrial sectors showed slight growth while agricultural sector recorded negative growth. “Here one would argue that Ghana’s industrialisation is becoming a reality” he noted.

Export of Raw Industrial Outputs

In spite of the positive signs recorded in the 2011 period, Prof. Mensah said the industrial sector was characterised by exports of virtually no value addition of crude oil, minerals and other industrial outputs, thereby still suffering from external shocks in commodity prices.

Prof. Mensah said the poor performance of the industrial sub-sector was evident stressing that “Prior to 2008, manufacturing was the leading sub-sector of the industrial sector, followed by the construction sub-sector. However, Prof. Mensah said the contribution of the manufacturing sub-sector showed declining trend throughout the period of 2007-2015 as construction became the leading sub-sector. “This suggests that the manufacturing in Ghana is rhetoric,” he noted.

Prof. Mensah mentioned political instability, internal economic mismanagement, inadequate capital for operators, rapid depreciation of the cedi, high cost of credit and trade liberalisation as some of the factors inhibiting the growth of industrialisation in Ghana.