The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah has told lecturers that the image of the University would get enhanced or diminished through their actions or inactions.
The Vice-Chancellor noted that since the lecturers were at the forefront of academic work in the University, their actions should create good impression about UCC both locally and internationally.
Since assuming office on October 1, the Vice-Chancellor has been interacting with various groups on campus to present to share a gist of his vision for the University the next four years. In his maiden meeting with the teaching staff, Prof. Ghartey Ampiah called for their support to administer the University saying, “I believe all must be on board. All of us must work together to achieve the aims of this institution”.
On the quest to merit the worldwide acclaim accolade as a University, Prof. Ampiah said that could only be attained if more strenuous efforts were put into research activities. “My focus is to help all to increase our research capacity so when people are asking for two papers, we can give ten”.
He told the Lecturers that they would not be known unless their research works were well written and disseminated, “We will never be visible; in fact, we will become ‘invisible’ if we keep publishing in hard copy journals rather than digital. I am challenging you. All of us must be visible, so we have to enroll on Google scholar search engine and the others. I challenge you to be there, they have all the necessary tools to enhance your research work”.
To help improve research good research work and dissemination, the Vice-Chancellor assured an improved access to Internet connectivity. He said though the budget for internet connectivity was in excess of GH¢ 1.9 million, it was still not better and called for expeditious action to fix the problem.
Prof. Ampiah urged his colleague lecturers to demonstrate further commitment to quality teaching by introducing innovation through the use of Information Technology.
“You have to change the way you teach your students and courses. You have to sharpen your teaching skills to reflect modern trends”. He called for prudent use of money to ensure that more funds would be available to undertake research activities. “Let us conserve money here before we also look elsewhere for support to do our work”.
The Vice-Chancellor advised them to use the University’s time judiciously to achieve maximum effectiveness, efficiency and productivity. He called for peaceful co-existence between Lecturers and Administrators saying “let’s work harmoniously with administrators for we all working in the interest of our clients, that is our students. If there is mutual trust, we can do it”.
Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor has also held a joint meeting with Senior and Junior staff where he urged them respect their superiors to ensure order and discipline at their respective offices. He also asked leaders to be good examples for their subordinates to emulate.
Prof. Ampiah told them to eschew the practice where staff use office hours and items to engage in private businesses and rather stay and work for the maximum mandatory eight (8) hours per day. Again, he asked workers not to be prompted before they do what was expected of them rather they should take initiative to have broken down items and machines repaired. He assured them that his administration would avoid selective application of the rules governing the university. “We would be fair to all, no matter the status or personality there will be no discrimination what is good Senior Members is equally good for Junior staff”.