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Vice-President Dr Bawumia joined by some officials of the University of Ghana Business School to cut the anniversary cake
Vice-President Dr Bawumia joined by some officials of the University of Ghana Business School to cut the anniversary cake

UG Business School launches 60th anniversary

The University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) has launched its 60th anniversary with a call on business schools to deepen collaboration and come up with competitive programmes.

“I look forward to seeing business schools collaborating with other departments and schools in their colleges and beyond to run core competence programmes to help you churn out change agents with critical and localised skills to feed into the nation's development agenda,” the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who made the call, added.

The Vice-President who was speaking at the launch of the anniversary at the University of Ghana, Legon, in Accra on May 11, 2022, also said that there was the need for business schools to run practical and experiential programmes to generate interest of industry and civil society organisations.

Some of the activities lined up for the anniversary include a float, alumni week, UGBS diamond scholarship, UGBS at 60 Olympics and a family fun day.

Provision of laptops

Dr Bawumia, who honoured his promise of providing 100 laptops to the school last January under the One student, One laptop initiative, encouraged business schools to provide solutions to businesses and the government on innovations and policy formulation.

On research, the Vice-President further urged the schools to adopt the triple helix model which he said was the interaction between academia, industry and government to foster economic and social development.

“I am aware of the tendency to over-theorise while offering instructions to students, that is why I am calling for a fairly balanced synchrony in theory and practice because I know that the theoretical framework of any area of speciality is also very important.

“The government's industrialisation drive such as One District One Factory (1D1F) could be enhanced, in fact revitalised if educational institutions position themselves well and provide the research capacity to support the initiative,” he said.

Commendation

Dr Bawumia commended the UGBS for their achievements in the last six decades, saying: “I share in your joy because 60 years of continuous operation that has produced prominent people in the country and the world of business is not a small feat”.

He paid tribute to the first council of the college which was chaired by Kojo Botsio, R. S. Amegashie, the principal, T. B. G. S. Addo; H A Dodoo, A. F. Greenwood, J. S. Lipscomb, H P Nelson, Kweku Akwei, J. T. Alexander and T. K. Impraim.

He further urged management of the UGBS to show leadership as the premier business school in the country.

“With technology, the faculty should find different ways to actively engage students in experiential learning, game-based learning and problem-based learning to help impart soft skills such as autonomy, creativity, leadership and effective collaboration in them,” the Vice-President said.

Relevance

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the university, in charge of research, innovation and development, Prof. Felix Asante, said the business school walked the journey of resilience and worked to stay relevant to shape the business environment in the country.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic had underlined the need for a paradigm shift in the training of students while urging the school to establish strong relations with other world-renowned institutions to remain credible and relevant.

The Dean of UGBS, Prof. Justice Bawole, appealed to the government “to support us with the construction of an ultra-modern innovation and incubation centre”.

“We already have drawings and we propose, subject to approval of the university council and other bodies, to name the facility, the Akufo-Addo Presidential Centre for Innovation and Business Leadership,” he pledged.

Background

The school was integrated into the University of Ghana some 60 years ago and moved to the campus of the university at Legon.

Prior to its integration, the school, which started in October 1952 as the Department of Commerce at the then Kumasi College of Technology, was moved to Achimota in Accra and named College of Administration in 1959.

Following the decision of the government at the time, the school was integrated into the university in May 1962 to be known as the School of Administration.

However, in line with the development of management education across the world, the name was changed in 2004 to the UGBS.

Presently, the UGBS runs 58 programmes, made up of two diploma programmes, eight undergraduate programmes, 41 master’s programmes and an additional 12 new programmes undergoing development and approval.

It also runs seven PhD programmes and over 100 short executive courses for corporate executives.

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