A three-member team from the Anhui Medical University, China, that is in the University as guests of the School of Medical Sciences (SMS) has called on the Vice-Chancellor.
The team on campus as a follow up to an earlier visit by a faculty member from SMS that is the Head of the Department of Microbiology, Dr. Dorcas Obiri Yeboah, to China last year. The Chinese delegation visit was aimed at pursuing further discussions on a possible collaboration between the two institutions.
The Dean of SMS, Prof. Francis Ofei, said the Chinese were interested in the possibility of dual training for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in basic training in medicine.
Prof. Ofei indicated that the Chinese were also interested in student and faculty exchange programmes to help share experience of both institutions.
The leader of the Chinese delegation, Prof. Jilong Shen, said most of the foreign students at Anhui Medical University were from Africa and Asia including a few from UCC, indicating that, there was the need to link the two universities so they could share best practices in the field of research.
Prof. Shen noted that, though malaria has been eradicated in China, infectious diseases still persist there, and it could be a possible area for collaborative research for both universities.
Addressing the visitors, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said he did not think the collaboration would be a difficult thing to do, so that more postgraduate students, especially PhD’s would be trained since it was now a requirement for progression.
Prof. Ampiah said it was going to be a good collaboration since the SMS was well positioned to carry their side of the MoU through and asked them to call on them for any support whenever the need arose. The Vice-Chancellor noted that both sides had their strengths and that there were a lot that they could learn and share together through the collaboration.
Present at the meeting were the registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan, a senior assistant registrar at SMS, Mr. Eugene Hesse.