3,514 Students graduate at 4 UG ceremonies
The University of Ghana held four congregation ceremonies at the weekend that saw the passing out of 3,514 students from different disciplines.
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The four ceremonies were held for the Colleges of Health Sciences, Basic and Applied Sciences, Humanities and Education.
The congregations also marked the first graduation of students from the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine programme.
Another set of graduation ceremonies will be held in November this year.
Speaking at the ceremony for the College of Health Sciences, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Ernest Aryeetey said the collegiate system of governance had been running for almost one calendar year and that it was time for stock-taking.
Introduction of Collegiate System
The introduction of the system, he said, was meant to decentralise decision-making and thereby reduce bureaucracy, as well as free officers, particularly the vice chancellor, registrar and the administrative director, from some administrative duties while creating more room for innovation at the school and college levels.
The colleges, he said, were working on their individual strategic plans with a new focus on research, adding that the individual plans, dovetailed into the university’s plan, and were expected to contribute towards transforming the institution into a world class university with research at the core of its functions.
He said advisory boards for all the colleges had been inaugurated and were working with the college administration to help them in developing strategies, fostering effective links between the college and external communities and helping to maintain and enhance the image and reputation of the colleges.
Research and Development
Prof. Aryeetey announced that GH¢4 million had been allocated to the four centres of excellence established in the university as seed money to undertake research in areas such as climate change adaptation; food production and processing and malaria, as well as development policy and poverty monitoring and evaluation, to address key developmental issues in Ghana and beyond.
He said the university had also earmarked US$5million for the refurbishment of laboratories and the replacement of obsolete scientific equipment.
Prof. Aryeetey also said a total of GHC284,538 was awarded as faculty development grants this academic year.
He said since the inception of that scheme in the 2008/2009 academic year, a total of GH¢1,083,250 had been awarded to 85 faculty members.
He said of that number, 31 had successfully obtained their PhDs or other terminal degrees, and returned to active teaching and research duties at the university.
Sponsor medical training
Mr Kojo Addae-Mensah, Group Chief Executive Officer of Databank Group, who was the guest speaker, called on corporate Ghana to sponsor medical training in the country.
He said the doctor-patient ratio across the various specialisations was woefully unbalanced and posed a major setback to achieving universal quality healthcare for the people.
Mr Addae-Mensah, who is also a member of the Advisory Board of the College of Health Sciences, encouraged the graduates to explore entrepreneurship in the non-formal sector by partnering and collaborating to set up private hospitals.
He impressed on them to start investing now, noting that a good number of people tended to start making investments at the age of 55, when they were at the threshold of retirement.
Mr Addae-Mensah urged them not to be intimidated by challenges adding that “courage and resilience, not fear is what you need when confronted with challenges”.
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