MountCrest Rector pushes for quality, accessible education
The newly-appointed Rector of the MountCrest University College, Prof. Helen Yitah, has called on stakeholders in education to ensure that the rapid expansion in the country’s higher educational system and its attendant competition improve quality and accessibility.
Prof. Yitah, who recently took over from Irene Ansa-Asare Horsham as Head of MountCrest’s management, said the country’s higher education structure had changed drastically, especially over the last two decades, making the field bigger and more competitive, describing it as a great opportunity for more people to climb higher on the academic ladder.
The competition to attract more students, she said, must improve the quality of teaching and learning in both private and public schools, and, most importantly, enable more people with the requisite qualifications to access institutions of higher learning.
Scholarship
Prof. Yitah made the observation when she announced MountCrest’s special scholarship package for brilliant underprivileged students.
The scheme, dubbed: “The MountCrest 50/50 Scholarship Scheme”, offers 50 per cent cuts in fees for 50 students who wish to study Law, Business, Public Health, Health Service Management and Social Sciences at the university college.
The rector said the rationale behind the scholarship scheme was MountCrest’s commitment to supporting Ghana’s socio-economic development drive, which is largely hinged on accessible and socially relevant education.
She said MountCrest would soon roll out an interdisciplinary initiative centred on Law, Ethics and Governance to train well-rounded professionals who could apply holistic thinking and diverse approaches to solving society’s complex problems.
Prof. Yitah indicated that MountCrest’s interdisciplinary vision rested on how law directed and shaped governance, and how governance drove leadership in business, health and other sectors.
The rector also emphasised the role of women in improving the quality of education, saying their involvement in effective leadership was crucial to the overall growth of the education sector in particular and Ghana’s human resource development in general.
Leadership
“Indeed, leadership is stereotypically perceived as male-dominated, but at MountCrest, we are modelling and promoting women’s empowerment and this is evident in the all-female top management,” she said.
The women at the helm of affairs at MountCrest include the Deputy Rector, Prof. Patience Aseweh Abor; the Registrar, Maurin Odai; the Accountant, Grace Worlanyo Krah and the President of the Students Representative Council (SRC), Priscilla Dzifa Ahiayibor.
The strong involvement of women in management signalled a breaking of gender barriers that should inspire both young women and men, which, Prof. Yitah said, aligned with the vision of MountCrest’s management team to enhance student success through mentorship and support services.
These, she said, ensured timely progression through academic programmes and the use of teaching and learning approaches that promote independent thinking and career preparedness.
“We are adopting student-centred approaches to ensure that we prepare students effectively for the world of work and help them to achieve positive societal impact through fruitful engagements with their communities,” the rector emphasised.
The MountCrest University College (MCU) is a private institution for higher education in Ghana, established in August 2008 by Kwaku Ansa-Asare and Helena Ansa-Asare.
In 2010, MCU was granted accreditation by the National Accreditation Board to run programmes in Law, Publishing, Public Health, and Health Services Management, both at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
