Overview
The School, formerly the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies, was elevated and renamed the School of Graduate Studies and Research with effect from August 1, 2008.
Vision
The vision of the School of Graduate Studies and Research is to become an effective and efficient hub of an outstanding multi-disciplinary context for graduate training and research for advancing the socio-economic development of Ghana.
Mission
The mission of the School is to create a facilitating environment for teaching, learning training of graduate students and researchers in the fields of the sciences and humanities, equipped with initiative and leadership in key sectors of inter/national endeavor.
In conformity with the mission and objectives as outlined in the University’s strategic plan, the School of Graduate and Research has the following specific objectives:
- To ensure the relevance of graduate programmes for the promotion of economic, social, scientific and technological development of Ghana and Africa.
- To deepen graduate training to promote teaching, research and creativity.
- To make graduate training and research continually responsive to the changing climate of the world of work.
- To mobilize appropriate human and material resources from within and outside the University to ensure maximum utilization of available potentials.
General Functions
The general functions of the School of Graduate Studies and Research are as follows:
- To attract and fund critical research of students and faculty ( collate and expand on available avenues for sponsorship (scholarships, fellowships, bursaries, awards, grants, exchanges etc; and make information available to all graduate students and researchers.
- To liaise with Heads of Departments on all matters relating to graduate studies.
- To keep records of all graduate students.
- To write grant proposals for both internal and external funding.
- To establish and maintain institutional (inter/national) connections for graduate studies and research.
- To recruit faculty specifically for graduate studies, beginning with experienced researchers in the country.
- To design and run own programmes, especially courses on research methodology and bibliographic studies.
- To determine and direct research priorities of the University.
- To establish and operate documentation unit for all theses/dissertation titles for consultation.
- To set up and maintain a resource centre that displays theses/dissertation titles for consultation.
Staffing
During the year under review, the school had staff strength of eleven (11). This comprised three (3) senior members, four (4) senior staff, (3) junior staff and two (2) national service persons. Mr. J.C.Sefenu, the Deputy Registrar. Mr. Eugene K.Hesse is the Assistant Registrar.
The Board of the School of Graduate Studies and Research
Functions of the School’s Board
The School‘s Board is charged with the following functions:
- Give approval of candidature, supervisors, coursework, thesis topics, titles and synopses for higher qualifications based upon the recommendations from Departmental and Faculty Boards.
- Recommend the appointment of internal and external examiners in respect of written papers, dissertations or theses to the Academic Board based upon recommendations from the Departmental and Faculty Boards.
- Give provisional approval to graduate examination results upon recommendations from Departmental and Faculty Boards.
- Ensure that the School fulfills its functions.
- To achieve its functions, the School shall adopt the following strategies:
- Mobilize financial resources.
- Appoint the mix of qualified staff to supervise graduate students.
- Promptly pay attractive remuneration to Examiners.
- Utilize information technology for communication, records keeping and retrieval.
- Establish links with industry and commerce for identification of research projects.
- Introduce graduate programmes that meet diverse circumstances of the working public, e.g., through distance learning.
- Establish integrated research facilities to cater for the needs of graduate students and faculty. These could include virtual classrooms; integrated research laboratories with high-tech equipment not normally available in the departments, e.g., integrated microscopy facility for all researchers, etc.
- Organize periodic seminars, updates and conferences.
- Response the changing climate of the world of work.
