Congrats, Prof. Okoe Amartey
The Governing Council of the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA) last week Thursday appointed Professor Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey as the new Vice Chancellor of the university for a four-year term with effect from January 1, 2017, refer to our story on page 3.
Advertisement
He takes over from the pioneer Vice Chancellor Professor Joshua Alabi whose tenure of office comes to an end on December 31, 2016. Prof Alabi served for two terms of four years each.
Prof. Okoe is currently the Pro Vice of the university. Prior to that appointment, he served as the Dean of Faculty of Management Studies from 2014 – 2016, Head of the Marketing Department for two consecutive terms. He was among the first batch of lecturers employed to augment the staff strength when the university began its degree programme.
We wish to congratulate Prof. Okoe on his appointment to the high office of the vice chancellor of the UPSA. We are confident he is very capable of achieving his mandate and lifting the university to even greater heights.
As vice chancellor, he is the principal academic and administrative officer of the university, among the main tasks he will be expected to provide leadership, academic and administrative to the whole university, secure a financial base sufficient to allow the delivery of the university's mission, aims and objectives.
He will have to deal with both external, as well as internal pressures to enhance relevance, success and throughput rates.
Another challenge is the fierce competition to attract and retain the best academic staff. The dire need to diversify income sources for the university is also a major concern, as well as the staggering spiralling costs of infrastructure demands.
This is the cauldron and conundrum of university leadership, the challenge that has to be taken on by the modern vice chancellor in his capacity as the chief executive officer of the university.
The good thing is that Prof. Alabi has led the transformation of the university into a very solid institution.
For the records, the UPSA is a pre-eminent public institution that provides undergraduate, Masters degree and diploma programmes and tuition for business professionals programmes.
With over 50 years of experience, the university has gained the reputation as the oldest professional accountancy and management tuition provider in the country. It currently has a student population of over 12,000 and staff strength of over 500.
Regarding its physical environment, the UPSA has one of the most ultra-modern campuses in Ghana. Today, the UPSA has a 6,000-capacity lecture hall complex, a six-storey ICT mediated library with a seating capacity of 1,600 at a go.
Today, the UPSA is not just a brand but an institution of choice. The university has become a competitive institution of choice. It is a unique business education and research institution that blends scholarship with professionalism.
While we congratulate Prof. Okoe, we hope he will work hard to make the UPSA a truly a world-class higher educational institution that is globally recognised.