Valley View University is 30

Oyibi (G/A), Sept. 24, GNA - Lack of counselling services has been identified as one of the main reasons responsible for the growing social vices and discordant behaviour of the youth of today, said Professor Daniel Bour, Provost of College and Art and Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Therefore, he appealed to secondary and tertiary institutions to establish counselling units to give guidance and advice to their students.

Speaking at the launch of the 30th anniversary celebrations of Valley View University (VVU), he praised private universities for their contribution to the socio economic development of the country and the provision of university education to students who could not be absorbed by public universities.

"In Ghana, the development of university education had been slow until a little over a decade ago when private university colleges began to spring up. Indeed hardly could the traditional public universities admit 60 per cent of qualified applicants," he said. He praised Valley View for pioneering the role of private university education in the country, living up to expectation and actualizing its mission and vision of being a centre of excellence in the provision of Christian education.

Prof Bour praised the university for its well stocked Computer Science Department which he said was distinguishable not only in Ghana but also in Africa and also for creating a 'green' environment by establishing an ecological campus which is first in Africa. He appealed to the administrators of VVU to examine the economy and to structure academic programmes to meet the needs of the country and also come out with research and publications in international journals to earn VVU more respect.

Highlighting on some of the achievements of the University since its inception, Dr. Seth Laryea, President of VVU, mentioned the attainment of Presidential Charter in 2006 and the university's impressive performance in the recent Zain African Challenge. "We are also in the process of starting an extension campus at Techiman for agriculture in addition to alliances with international organizations and individuals," he said.

VVU, which was called the Adventist Missionary College, was established in 1979 at Bekwai-Ashanti in the Ashanti Region as a school of Theology.

It was moved to Adenta in 1983 where it operated in rented facilities until in was relocated to its site at Oyibi in 1989 and renamed Valley View College.

The National Accreditation Board granted VVC national accreditation in 1997, thus permitting it to award its own degrees.