Category: Education

The Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU) has inducted Professor Kwaku Adutwum Ayim Boakye as the Vice-Chancellor and Dr Anthony Hercules Turkson as the Registrar, respectively, of the University. Being the third Vice-Chancellor succeeding Prof. Joshua Owusu-Sekyere, he pledged to activate an open-door policy that was inclusive and transformative with dedicated stewardship. Addressing a colourful ceremony on Friday, graced by representatives of sister technical universities, students, friends and family, the Tourism Professor touted the mission of the university as producing high-quality manpower needs of the country. He said the university was aware of the exigencies of the times, which demanded technologically capable, climate aware, emotionally intelligent and morally upright graduates to achieve organisational goals. For that matter, he stated that the university's empowering skills of critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration had heightened its excellence in producing cutting-e dge innovative interventions to ease some human endeavours. Typical of such are the invention of solar-powered tricycles, solar-driven automatic handwashing machines, bamboo base sanitary pads, and strong partnerships with industry for job creation and entrepreneurship. Equally, the CCTU had been outstanding in winning several international awards, while a grant writing team had won many grants totalling GHC3 million to support research, innovation and skills development. Prof. Boakye rallied support in achieving the five pillars of the university's 2021-2025 Strategic Vision of quality teaching and learning, research and innovation, infrastructural development, enhanced student welfare, community outreach and institutional capacity. 'After studying the system for six months, I am convinced that adopting a corporate and entrepreneurial mindset and culture is the 'sine qua non' for our achievement of greatness and global recognition, he said. 'To this end, my management team will build on the gains achiev ed in the past by adopting the philosophy of Institutionalised intentional excellence.' 'This maxim is based on our strategy to harness the undeniable God-given intelligence of each worker of CCTU and position it to be both intentional and institutionalised.' Having published 45 scholarly and technical papers and played a key advisory role in many projects, committees of government and international bodies on tourism development, he was exceedingly grateful for his elevation after his 19-year career in tourism. With research interests in tourism safety, governance, transatlantic slave trade and destination management, Prof Boakye has successfully trained more than 10 PhDs and 20 M Phil holders. Administratively, he had occupied many portfolios including being the Dean of International Relations at the University of Cape Coast in 2019, until his new appointment. Though born in Takoradi to Dr Joseph Kwasi Ayim Boakye (deceased) and Mrs Comfort Ayim Boakye, the CCTU Vice-Chancellor had spent more than 42 ye ars of his life in Cape Coast. He has six siblings and is a Christian with two children. Dr Turkson, the Registrar, on the other hand, started as an Assistant Planning Officer at the university in 2007 and rose through the ranks with a total of 32 papers. He was born in August 1971 at Assin Fosu. Presiding, Prof Harold Amonoo Kwofie, the Chairman of the Council, said the ceremony signified the beginning of a new chapter of leadership for the University for growth and development. He urged the leadership to renew its sense of nationalism and fiercely fight social ills that would derail its course of achieving service in integrity and development. 'You are now the face of the University, and everybody will be monitoring your style of leadership,' he said. 'Therefore, you must bear the responsibility of upholding the values and traditions that have sustained its growth over the years.' Source: Ghana News Agency

KaiOS Technologies and Worldreader has empowered one million readers through the BookSmart App. The partnership is a strategic joint effort to fight the global learning crisis and bridge the digital divide. A statement issued in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency said since the launch of the partnership, over one million people, mainly in low- and middle-income countries where the learning crisis and the digital divide was more severe, have read over three million books via the KaiOS powered-smart feature phones on BooKSmart, Worldreader's mobile reading app. It said the alliance has had an important impact in India where it has been activated on the JioPhones and made available on the Jio Store. Madam Rebecca Chandler Leege, the Chief Executive Officer of Worldreader said 'This partnership represents putting the power of reading into the hands of those who need it most.' She said despite 95 per cent global broadband coverage, the usage gap remained one of the main challenges for people to benefi t from the Internet. She said according to the Global Connectivity Report 2022, 2.7 billion people (one third of the worldwide population) still did not connect to the Internet. The CEO said device affordability stood as a significant barrier, with nearly 2.5 billion people living in countries, where the cost of the cheapest smartphone accounts for a quarter or more of their average monthly income (Alliance for Affordable Internet, 2020). In Sub-Saharan Africa, the learning crisis is particularly worrying, with more than 86 per cent of ten years old children not able to comprehend a simple text, and where access to reading materials at home is scarce or nonexistent. She said with most countries having as low as seven per cent of books present at the household level (Countdown to 2030, 2021), adding that the lack of access had a significant impact in building healthy reading habits among families. Mr Sebastien Codeville, CEO and co-founder of KaiOS Technologies said both organizations were committed to ex panding their global reach and impact, focusing primarily on Sub-Saharan Africa, to continue tackling the device affordability and learning crisis. He said 'KaiOS' mission to close the digital divide would not be complete without meaningful partnerships like the one with Worldreader, which enables our users to access useful and impactful content that contributes to changing their life.' Since 2020, KaiOS Technologies, the web-based mobile operating system powering a new category of smart feature phones, and Worldreader, the international edtech nonprofit, have partnered to deliver high-quality reading materials to first-time and early internet users on the affordable KaiOS-powered smart feature phones. Source: Ghana News Agency

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has inaugurated a state-of-the-art community library and technology hub at Bantama, in Kumasi. The project, named after the President, is the idea Mr. Francis Asenso-Boakye, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bantama, and aims to instill the love of reading in the youth to enhance their career-development. It is one of the strategic educational initiatives by the MP and Minister of Works and Housing to build an informed and knowledge-based society and promote literacy and e-learning in his constituency. The President was grateful to the chiefs and people for honouring him, saying the project was in line with the government's agenda to provide quality education to the people. 'I am more thrilled by the fact that the project is educational based, something that touches my heart,' he noted. President Akufo-Addo underscored the need for stakeholders to continually invest in literacy programmes to create opportunities for the youth to realise their God-given talents. Educati on, he noted, was the key to success in life, urging the youth to patronise the library for their own benefit. The President described Mr. Asenso-Boakye as a visionary leader and asked the people to support him as he worked to uplift their standards of living. 'The MP has over the years been focused in working for the people,' he stated, stressing that he was one of the hardworking Ministers committed to the country's development and growth. Mr. Asenso-Boakye said information, communication and technology had become an integral part of education all over the world. Consequently, he has stepped up efforts to construct more community libraries and technological hubs in the constituency to enable the youth to embrace e-learning. Mr. Hayford Siaw, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Library Authority, supervisors of the project, assured that his outfit would work assiduously to promote the concept of reading. Source: Ghana News Agency

Prof Johnson Nyarko Boampong, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), has challenged universities in Ghana to put their innovative research into action to impact the lives of the citizenry. He said the innovative outputs from quality research must serve the needs of the society and be meaningful to improve their livelihoods. 'The conduct of relevant cutting-edge research that are capable of rendering tangible and innovative outputs that tackle our developmental problems is one sure way of providing solutions to the societal challenges that we are faced with in the 21st century,' he noted. Prof Boampong threw the challenge at the eighth Research Awards and Grants (RAG) ceremony of the university's Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC). The RAG ceremony has been instituted by UCC to support quality research and encourage research excellence and innovation among faculty. The 2023 edition held under the theme: 'Artificial Intelligence for Innovative Research and Susta inable Development' also commemorated the 10th anniversary of DRIC with a cake-cutting ceremony. Some 44 researchers who distinguished themselves in their respective fields of research were rewarded. Prof. Samuel Kofi Tulashie and Prof. Ernest Teye, both College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, and Dr. Peterson Owusu Junior of the College of Humanities and Legal Studies were adjudged the best researchers, received the Best Researcher Awards (RSA) of GHC4,000 cheque each. The remaining 41 had varying amounts of Research Support Grants (RSG). The grants provide seed money for faculty to conduct short-term small-scale research and leverage that for bigger external grant applications, while the Best Research Awards rewards hardworking faculty to motivate them for greater achievements. Apart from the grantees and awardees, other members of management and staff, including Prof Boampong were also recognised for playing various roles in putting UCC ahead in research. Prof Boampong maintained that it was inc umbent on every university to pursue research with intensity because national, continental, and global decision making were hinged on the output of scientific research and its implication on policies. 'Research must be multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary since knowledge to solve societal problem is no longer in distinct silos of disciplines. 'In Africa for example, social and economic challenges span across various dimensions hence, the need to solve them in an integrated and multidimensional fashion,' he added. To further its research agenda as a university, the Vice Chancellor intimated that UCC had consistently increased research quality and innovative research output over the past decade. He touted the endless achievements of the school in research, including being among the top universities globally for research influence, and commended the entire university community and its partners for the feats. He further urged DRIC to be consistent in finding innovative ways to improve the research outputs and grant portfolio of the university. For his part, Prof David Teye Doku, Director of DRIC, reiterated the need for higher educational institutions in Africa to intensify their research mandate for the much-desired socio-economic growth and sustainable development. He noted that research and innovation efforts of UCC were guided by a five-year Research Agenda (2023-2027), which was carefully developed through stakeholder consultations across the University. He added that the agenda took into consideration the National Agenda 2057, the African Union (AU) Developmental Goal (AU Agenda 2063) and the Sustainable Development Goals. 'As part of our mandate, the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC) seeks to stimulate research excellence, innovation and grants-making not only within the University of Cape Coast but also across Ghana and Africa,' he said. 'The University of Cape Coast has also made strides in attracting grants and implementing research projects of various scales,' Prof Doku stated. Source: Ghana News Agency

Madam Virginia Palmer, United States (US) Ambassador to Ghana, has joined local officials in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, to open a new American Corner secretariat in the region. The American Corner Kumasi will be a cultural and information center that provides free and open access for young Ghanaians to learn more about the United States, attend free educational programming, develop new skills, and access a wide range of resources. 'Kumasi is home to important universities, businesses, and leaders, all deepening ties… and strengthening their bonds with the people of the United States. 'This new American Corner will help provide the resources and knowledge needed to be successful in those endeavors,' Madam Palmer said at the opening. The Corner will host programmes and information sessions for Ghanaian students seeking information about educational opportunities in the United States through the EducationUSA programme. The American Corner will be opened from Monday to Friday, 0830 hours to 1400 hours , as wel l as be opened for special events. As part of the opening of the American Corner, a team from the U.S. Embassy hosted the American Spaces 'roadshow' - a two-day of entrepreneurship and education-focused events. Visitors had the opportunity to explore and share ideas, access information, and participate in activities that develop professional skills or provide educational opportunities. American Spaces offer modern and welcoming environments equipped with advanced technologies, high-speed internet access, helpful staff, and innovative programming. American Spaces also provide communities overseas an opportunity to meet and engage U.S. citizens in person or virtually to learn more about American culture, education, and more. Last year, the American Center and American Corner in Accra hosted more than 30,000 participants in online, hybrid, and in-person programmes focused on developing 21 st century work skills, STEM learning, entrepreneurship, education, and media literacy. Source: Ghana News Agency