Minister for Education Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has urged the Governing Board of the University of Ghana to be globally competitive in the pursuit of higher education in the country.
“You need to compete with the rest of the world and be abreast of globalization and its impact on the University of Ghana to achieve its vision of becoming a world-class research-intensive university,” he reiterated.
Dr Adutwum issued the directive on Monday when he inaugurated a 20-member Governing Board of Ghana’s premier University and administered the oath of office as well as the oath of secrecy to the board members in Accra with the mandate to manage the affairs of the institution.
The minister said being competitive would come with a curriculum education that met the needs of industry players across the globe.
He assured the Board of government’s commitment to involve the leadership of the Universities in the development of new high school curriculum for their inputs to improve teaching and learning in schools.
Dr Adutwum charged them to be interested in the general education of students, and fashioned innovative ways to enhance teaching in the University in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic for improved outcomes.
He urged the Board to intensify their Corporate Social Responsibility activities by offering scholarship schemes to needy but brilliant students in the area they operate to broaden the horizon of higher education.
Dr Adutwum expressed government’s appreciation to the past members of the board for their dedicated service to the University, and urged the new board to establish a good working relationship with their predecessors while providing the needed policy direction and support to advance academic work.
A former Chief Justice and Chairperson of the Governing Board, Justice Sophia Abena Boafoa Akuffo, thanked government for the confidence reposed in them and assured of heeding to the tenets of their mandates.
She pledged on behalf of the Board to reposition the University to be viable and relevant to national development, saying, “We hope to bring significant progress at the end of our tenure”.
The Board is made up of representatives of the various stakeholders including the University Teachers Association of Ghana, Alumni, Ghana Tertiary Education Commission, government nominees, Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools, Graduate Students’ Association of Ghana, Tertiary Education Workers’ Union, and Students’ Representative Council.
It is expected to comply with the functions of a board as stipulated in the University of Ghana Act, 2010 (Act 806).
