Prof Ampiah addressing the congregation
The University of Cape Coast (UCC) is putting adequate structures in place to expand access to postgraduate programmes in order to meet the demands of current dispensation.
In meeting its agenda, administrators of the institution is continuing with the bridging of the gender gap by rolling out more flexible, career-oriented programmes through the various modes of delivery.
The Vice Chancellor of UCC, Prof Joseph Ghartey Ampiah said these at the sixth session of the 51st congregation of the university held on campus of the institution on Wednesday.
A total of 5,727 students who pursued various academic programmes at the university graduated during the two-day exercise.
The sixth session witnessed 1,357 students from the School of Graduate Studies graduating was an improvement of the 1,307 figure recorded during the 2016/2017 academic year.
It comprised 25 PhD, 70 MPhil, 46 MCom/MBA, one Master of Nursing, 722 MEd/MSc, 365 MA and 125 PGDE as well as two Master of Human Resource Management and one Master of General Management.
Prof Ampiah noted that the university expect an improvement over the total graduating class next year.
He announced that, the Academic Board had approved the article-based thesis format to encourage publication of high standard research in a timely manner with supervisors to improve students’ completion rate and UCC institutional image through rapid dissemination of research outcomes.
He said “The offering of dual degree programmes for postgraduate research degrees was also approved by the Academic Board to multidisciplinary approach to teaching, learning and research”.
He further said that: “the Academic Board has also approved an academic writing course, which is envisioned to offer opportunity to students to acquire and develop rhetorical knowledge and practices for studying and writing within discipline specific contexts”.
The course, he explained, would create a platform in assisting postgraduate students in research writing and publishing.
Touching on postgraduate enrollment, Prof Ampiah stated that the School of Graduate Studies currently had 7, 381 graduate students in the various postgraduate disciplines, saying, “We hope to increase enrollment year-by-year and make delivery more flexible”.
He expressed the commitment of management of the institution to expand library facilities especially, e-library services for students on campus and off-campus.
The Chairman of the Governing Council of UCC, Mrs Nancy Thompson, in her remarks, underscored the importance of graduate education to a nation’s transformation,
She explained that, every country requires competent and experienced human resource for development and stated that, the capacity can be best obtained through quality graduate education.
“Graduate training produces the needed capacity with the requisite knowledge and skills that every country requires to make economic strides” she said.
She appealed to stakeholders to appreciate the contribution of research to national development, saying, “Government and institutions of higher learning must partner to come out with innovative research for national planning and development”.
Mrs Thompson urged the graduating class to be confident in the capabilities and work towards impacting their communities with the knowledge acquired.
From David O.Yarboi-Tetteh, Cape Coast
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