Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah has been inducted into office as the Vice-Chancellor of the University for a four-year term.
The Chancellor of the University, Sir, Dr. Sam Esson Jonah performed the induction ceremony. The new Vice- Chancellor, has over 29 years’ experience as a science teacher and until his appointment was the Provost of College of Education Studies, University of Cape Coast.
Addressing the gathering, the Chancellor thanked the immediate past Vice-Chancellor for his exemplary leadership and vision that has taken the University to a different pedestal. Turning his attention to the new Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Jonah said given the fact he had occupied every position in the University prior to his elevation, he was optimistic that Prof. Ampiah would move the institution to another level during his four-year tenure.
Dr. Jonah described him as “A man of great character and an excellent choice who will serve the University well”. Continuing, the Chancellor said, “This is a defining moment of your career. We believe in you and know with you as our captain our boat will sail smoothly and successfully”.
Acknowledging the fact that success could not be achieved single handedly, Dr. Jonah reminded the Vice-Chancellor to work with all his managers so that in the end his vision could be realised collectively. “Your success will depend on how you work and cooperate with every member of management, they remain very instrumental in your administration”.
The Chancellor called for a renewed commitment from both students and staff since the Vice-Chancellor was taking over in a challenging time where funding for tertiary education has become very difficult. He advised him to be fair and firm and remember that he was “here to serve as a catalyst of change”.
The immediate past Vice–Chancellor, Prof. D. D. Kuupole in an address thanked all who worked and contributed in diverse ways to make his tenure a success.
Outlining his vision for the next four years, Prof. Ampiah said his it was inspired by his strong commitment to the strategic vision of the University, which sought to become a higher education institution with worldwide acclaim. “In other words my vision is to provide leadership that will improve the national and international visibility of the University by focusing on innovation in the delivery of teaching and research, management of the university to secure a wider impact on society”. He said his leadership would focus on creating, finding and exploiting opportunities for new ways of doing things that would result in better products and services.
To achieve his vision on innovation and impact, Prof. Ampiah indicated that he would give particular attention to promoting digital culture in the University by progressively making computers available and accessible to both lecturers and students for academic work. A progressive programme in adapting Information, Communication Technology (ICT) to teaching and learning with the view of promoting a hybrid of online and face–to-face courses.
In order to improve research activities, the Vice-Chancellor said he would increase research output to one article per year and make this count towards building up of points towards sponsorship to conferences, workshops and seminars. According to the Vice-Chancellor, funds would be provided for research and promote and atmosphere of intellectual productivity. He said a research excellence fund would be set up so that colleges could compete and engage in research that has the potential to impact the Ghanaian society.
To this end, Industry from now on would not just be seen as funders of research; rather, they would participate as collaborators of research. The strategy is to look out for problems in industry, which needs researching into and collaborate with the industry concerned to find solutions to them.
Prof. Ampiah said there would be efforts to enhance the visibility of the Centre for International Education, by supporting them to publicise international conferences to be hosted by UCC.
“We will support the Centre to improve on how to market the university as a destination of choice when it comes to study abroad”.
As part of his vision, the Institute of Education would be restructured to perform its core mandate by creating a collaborative link with international research agencies as well as development partners that provide funding for research, engage with these agencies to project its image as the leading teacher education research centre in sub-Saharan Africa.
At the institutional level, Prof. Ampiah said he would include his vision as an addendum to the institution’s strategic plan so as to convey the clear message of its importance and to enable resources to be assigned them.