'Review teaching methods in tertiary institutions'

Page 24
Feb 18, 2008

President J.A. Kufuor has advocated a review of the teaching and learning processes, as well as the curricula of tertiary institutions, to enable them to produce innovative and inspired graduates for national development.
He said for any tertiary institution to be able to achieve excellence, it ought to provide high quality and applicable education, adding that “there is the need for the building of a conducive environment and culture in which students can genuinely have all the knowledge and skills required for any occupation and profession”.
President Kufuor noted these in an address read on his behalf by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Joe Ghartey, at the fifth graduation of the Methodist University College, Ghana last Saturday.
He said for Ghana to meet the demands of the modern world, there was the need for a highly differentiated and diverse higher educational system that would meet the socio-economic and educational needs of the country.
“It is important that our universities become innovative, entrepreneurial and creative in the provision of quality education. It is time for tertiary institutions in Ghana to move away from the situation where every institution seeks to do the same thing,” he said.
President Kufuor commended the timely intervention and initiative made by private institutions in complementing the efforts the government to meet the tertiary educational demands for the increasing population.
The Principal of MUCG, the Very Rev Professor Samuel Kwasi Adjepong, said the university had introduced new programmes with effect from the 2007/2008 academic year.
He mentioned MBA in Accounting, Finance, Human Resource Management and Marketing, Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Mathematics and Statistics, MPhil in Mathematics, Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Studies, BA in Religious Studies and Ethics and BA in French.
Rev Prof Adjepong said with the new educational reform, the university would, from next academic year, offer a certificate programme in Educational and Moral Leadership, saying that with effect from the 2007/08 academic year, MUCG would start a one-year certificate programme in Information Technology, with options in Information Science, Web Design, Networking and E-Commerce.
According to him, efforts were being made to offer Chinese language in its faculty and that the Chinese Embassy had already been contacted for support in terms of staff and teaching materials.
On infrastructural development, the principal noted that it had tremendously improved, especially with the construction of the three-storey administration block which had fully been completed.
As part of efforts to expand infrastructure and increase intake, he said an 8.46 acre land had been acquired along the Accra-Tema Motorway for the construction of a permanent building for the Tema campus of the university.
In all, 422 graduands were conferred with various degrees in Business Administration, Economics, Economics and Mathematics-Statistics and (IT). Thirty of the graduands had First Class, 111 Second Class (Upper Division), 248 Second Class (Lower Division) and 33 Third Class.
Mrs Matilda Dorothy Reindorf was adjudged the Overall Best Student with a prize package of a plaque, an undisclosed amount of money and a refrigerator.