The Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Professor Johnson Nyarko Boampong says despite the many positive strides the university has made over the years to bridge infrastructural deficits, there is still a lot more work to be done.
He noted that since he assumed office in 2020, several projects started by successive past vice-chancellors have been completed.
The Vice Chancellor however noted with concern that there are several new projects particularly student residential facilities which the university remains committed to ensuring its realization to address the accommodation problems experienced on campus.
He described as worrying, the inadequate residential facilities to house all fresh students who apply to study at UCC.
“As a result of these deficiencies, most of our students are accommodated in private hostels around campus and within the communities surrounding the university. As a consequence, there has been a high incidence of theft and robbery cases. These unfortunate occurrences have the potential of undermining our collective efforts at ensuring the safety and security of our students,” he continued.
According to Prof Nyarko Boampong, the university has engaged stakeholders and private companies, and even signed memorandums of understanding with some of them, to provide residential facilities on campus. However, these efforts have so far not yielded positive results.
Meanwhile, he emphasized that the University is adopting strategies to address the situation.
One strategy involves collaborating with the UCC branch of the Ghana University Staff Superannuation Scheme to construct residential facilities for students.
The vice chancellor also underscored the need for UCC to enhance or maintain its research output for the university to achieve greater visibility.
To him, Faculty and staff must continue to “conduct cutting-edge research that will lead to innovative outputs that can be commercialized and patented for societal benefits.”
Prof Johnson Nyarko Boampong was speaking at the first session of the 56th congregation of the University of Cape Coast for the graduands of the College of Education Studies under the Ministry of Finance Ghana Cares Obaatanpa TUC programmes and the Institute of Education three-semester sandwich programme.
He said to support the goal of achieving greater visibility, the university has fostered some collaborations with some institutions.
Prof. Nyarko Boampong further stated that the university will continue to forge strategic partnerships in the areas of its core mandates to advance the course of its mission and vision to sustain its feats on the global front.
“It is also imperative that we improve in other areas where the university ranks low. In particular, we will work to increase the proportion of graduate students and attract more research grants to increase research income to make resources available for the provision of state-of-the-art facilities for teaching and research. Sustaining this feat also beholds each one of us to diligently play our role in fulfilling the university’s core mandate of teaching, research, and community service.”
Valedictorian and overall best-graduating student from the Wesley College of Education Centre in Kumasi, Eric Osei who had a CGPA of 3.9703 indicated that although the path to securing a bachelor’s certificate from the University of Cape Coast is demanding, student’s academic journey on campus has been a mix of diverse experiences, especially due to coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, he said the graduating class of 2023 have earned the honour bestowed on them by the University.
During the first session, a total of 2, 873 graduates were awarded various degrees with 244 attaining first class honours, 1,555 had second class upper division while 844 had second class honours lower division. Also, 209 students had third class and 21 passed.
At the second session, 3,946 students graduated under the Ministry of Finance Ghana Cares Obaatanpa TUC Programmes.
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Source: Anthony Sasu Ayisadu/ATLFMNEWS
