University of Ghana is West Africa’s best

The University of Ghana (UG) is the highest ranked university in West Africa and the seventh in Africa. Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, the Vice Chancellor of the University, said the 2016 Times Higher Education World Rankings once again placed the UG ahead of its peers in Ghana and West Africa.

“The UG was ranked in the fifth decile of this year’s ranking; and our strongest pillar this year was research. “This is definitely a great achievement, given that we were ranked in the fourth decile in 2015, with our strongest pillar that year being international outlook,” Prof Oduro Owusu stated at the November Congregation of the University.

This Congregation covers the second batch of students, who completed their programmes of study in the 2015/2016 Academic year; the first batch having graduated in July this year.

“It is worthy of note that our efforts at becoming a world class research intensive university is well on its way,” he said. He said the enviable feat chalked by the UG could not have been achieved without the concerted efforts of the staff, students and stakeholders of the University.

The Vice Chancellor said he was grateful and confident that with the establishment of their Strategic Teams and with the continued support of all and sundry, their rankings would soar at both the continental and international levels.

The Strategic Teams include: Institutional Advancement Team, Agriculture Centres Commercialization Committee, UG Rebranding and Marketing Team, and the Medical and Dental School Expansion Team. The rest are UG Regional/World Ranking Team, Vice Chancellor Green Team, Independent Power Supply Team and the Laboratory Modernisation Team.

The Strategic Teams have been charged with the responsibility to position UG as a “Go to University”. Prof Oduro Owusu, in his report to the congregation, said the security situation on the University campus had witnessed tremendous improvement.

He said the University had also put together a strategic document to combat security challenges on its other campus; declaring that, “A major constraint, however, has been the fact that the security office was greatly understaffed.

He said the Management was, however, working assiduously to find avenues to improve the current staffing situation. “We have also organised face-to-face discussions to educate students on the need to be security conscious. “The goal is to create individual and ultimately a holistic awareness of the necessity to be security conscious on campus,” he said.

“Let me take this opportunity to thank the Regional and District Police Command as well as National Security for beefing up our security efforts, volunteering security briefs, and helping maintain law and order on campus,” he stated. He urged the graduating students to understand that education was expected to continue beyond the walls of the lecture hall into the community and work place and into adulthood. “As you enter the job market, I urge you to continue to improve upon these critical skills,” he advised.

“Remember that it is a competitive world and to be in the lead, you need to always strive to make a difference; just a one degree shift from the norm and you will be in the lead.” The congregation for the undergraduate students of the College of was held at the Great Hall, while that of its graduate students was held at the R. S. Amegashi Auditorium simultaneously.

The Vice Chancellor delivered his speech at the Great Hall, while the Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof. Samuel K. Offei delivered it on his behalf at the Amegashie Auditorium.

A total of 300 graduate students from the College of Humanities graduated, of which Mrs Linda Asante Agyei, an editor with the Ghana News Agency, graduated with a Master of Arts in Public Affairs.