Monday, February 9, 2009

POLITICAL WILL NEEDED TO IMPROVE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM (PAGE 11)

THE Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe, has said it is important for the government to exercise its political will to take decisions that would improve the educational system of the country and ensure development.
He has, therefore, called on the government, as a matter of policy, to bring Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the doorstep of all educational institutions to give them universal access to new technologies, lifelong teaching and learning opportunities for all, regardless of the institutions’ location or social standing.
Prof. Tagoe said this when he delivered a goodwill message from the University of Ghana at the third congregation of the Catholic University College of Ghana (CUCG) at Fiapre in the Brong Ahafo Region at the weekend.
The Vice-Chancellor stated that a strong political commitment was key to harnessing quality education to achieve national development.
In all, 92 students who had obtained Bachelor of Science (BSc) degrees in Computer Science, Economics and Business Administration and Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees in Religious Studies and Education graduated.
Five out of the total number of the graduating students obtained first class honours in the various programmes while the rest got second class honours and third class honours, and two others obtained passes.
The congregation also coincided with the matriculation ceremony of 175 freshmen and women, increasing the total number of students at the university to 1,450. The CUCG Alumni Association was also inaugurated.
Prof. Tagoe urged the government to put in place measures to ensure that teachers are well trained and motivated and students have greater access to facilities and technology which would instil in them lifelong love for learning and prepare them to place greater emphasis on personal initiative and entrepreneurship.
He announced that the CUCG and the University of Ghana were exploring further links to run Health and Allied Sciences programmes at the Catholic University.
“Universities have a major role to play in producing human resource and in undertaking the necessary research for development. The global environment, coupled with the complexities of modern-day governance, advancement in science and technology, and the ICT revolution, call for a highly trained labour force”, he stressed.
The Vice-Chancellor of the CUCG, Prof. James Hawkins Ephraim, thanked all the experts who responded positively to the call by the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference to advise it on the establishment of the Catholic University as well as all who contributed to the development of the university.
He said the university was granted five institutional re-accreditation, from September 1, 2008, adding: “It is our projection that before our institutional accreditation expires on August 31, 2013, the Catholic University will have attained its charter to become autonomous. At that time, not only will the university be able to award its own degrees, but it would also be able to establish other satellite campuses-because the university would have been thought of as coming of age”.
Prof. Ephraim stated that all courses offered by the CUCG had received accreditation before their commencement, adding that the university’s senate had approved courses in Bachelor of Science in Actuary, Mathematics and Economics, Mathematics and Finance while stakeholder consultations were also far advanced for nursing programmes whose accreditation would be obtained before it starts in August, this year.
Among the dignitaries present at the congregation were Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson and the Apostolic Nuncio, Most Rev. Leon Kalenga Badekebele who was also the special guest of honour.
Others were the Episcopal Chairman of the university, Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, who is also the Catholic Bishop of the Sunyani Diocese; the Chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees, His Lordship, Bishop Joseph Osei Bonsu and some members of the board.

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