A former Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Prof. William Otoo Ellis has challenged Administrators of the country’s universities to brace themselves up for ongoing quest for a transformational approach to higher education administration.
According to him, current trends such as increasing student numbers, challenges of inadequate financial resources to provide the requisite physical infrastructural facilities and equipment and the emergence of ICT requires innovation and skilful management practices for University Administrators
Prof. Ellis addressing members of the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) who participated in a two-day Continuous Professional Development programme in Kumasi.
GAUA is made up of professional administrators who are senior members of public universities in Ghana. They include Human Resource Managers, Quality Assurance and Management Specialists; Finance, Audit, and Procurement Specialists; Medical Officers, Development Consultants, Informational Technology and Systems Analysts.
The programme was organized by the Association in collaboration with the Office of the Registrar of KNUST and, was intended to equip members with relevant skills undertake research and to write academic papers as part of the requirement for their career progression.
Participants were taken through the “Fundamentals of Peer-Review of Peer Review Publication, promoting knowledge through Conference Presentations, the Fundamentals of Writing Effective Memoranda/Position Papers for policy Change in University Context, and the Art of Crafting Memoranda and Position Papers and Guidelines for Submitting same for Consideration.
The Resource Persons included Prof. Imoro Braimah, Provost, College of Humanities and Social Science; Dr. Paul Kwadwo Addo, Senior Assistance Registrar, Institute of Education Studies; Mr. Vincent Ankomah Lomotey, Deputy Registrar, College of Science; and Mrs. Eudora Dadson, Ag. Deputy Registrar, Legal and Welfare at KNUST.
The immediate past Vice Chancellor of KNUST said the emerging challenges of higher education in Ghana would require University Administrators and Lecturers to poses relevant knowledge, skills, and international exposure with modern approaches to deal with the emerging issues.
He commended the leadership of the Association for organizing the programme to expose its members to some of the new trends of higher education in relation to career development and progression and urged them to sustain it.
The President of GAUA, Mr. Kwame Yeboah Jr, was grateful to the KNUST leadership for assisting to develop the human resource base of the University.
He implored members of the Association to take advantage of such interventions to improve on their skills and efficiency.
A representative from the Office of the Registrar of KNUST, Mr. Vincent Ankomah Lomotey, urged members to develop a new attitude to enhance their work output to transform higher education in Ghana.
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Professor Rita Akosua Dickson, who represented the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Obiri-Danso, pledged the continuous support of the University for the Association.
The occasion was used to honour Professor William Otoo Ellis for his support to the Association in diverse ways, during his tenure as Vice-Chancellor of the University (2010-2016).