Governing Councils of UEW, UDS inaugurated

The Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, inaugurated governing councils for the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) and the University for Development Studies (UDS) at separate functions in Accra yesterday.

The UEW Council is chaired by Professor Obeng Mireku, while the UDS Council is chaired by Mr Nutifafa Kuenyehia.

Members

The 17-member UEW Council includes the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Rev. Fr Prof. A. Afful-Broni; Ms Irene Osei Bonsu, Mrs Abena N. Antwi and Neenyi Ghartey VII, all government nominees.

Others are a representative of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Very Rev. Mrs Ama Afo Blay; the Director-General of the GES, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa; a representative of the professional teachers’ organisation, Mr Eric Agbe-Carbonu, and the Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), Prof. Mohammed Salifu.

It also includes a representative of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), Ms Theresa Ackon; a representative of the Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG), Mr Godwin Kusi Danquah, and a representative of the UEW Students Representative Council (SRC), Mr Emmanuel Oduro Fosu.

The rest are representatives of Convocation, Mr Bruno Bajuaose Chirani, Prof. Yaw Sekyi-Baidoo, Dr Isaac Abunyuwah and Dr Samuel Adu Gyamfi.
The alumni association of the UEW is, however, yet to nominate its representative.

UDS Council

The 14-member UDS Council includes the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Gabriel Ayum Teye; and government nominees — Dr Francis Boateng Agyenim, Prof. Ismail Bin Yahya and Mrs Joyce Agyeman Attafuah.

Others are a representative of Convocation (professional), Prof. Elias N.K. Sowley; a representative of Convocation (non-professional), Dr Abdul-Razak Abizari; a representative of the NCTE, Dr Kareem Mumuni; a representative of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Prof. Addah Weseh, and a representative of the alumni, Dr Felix K. Abagala.

The rest are the GRASAG representative, Mr Dangungong C. Binwatin; the SRC representative, Mr Zakaria Abubakari Sadik; the representative of TEWU, Mr Sulemana Abdul-Rahman, and the representative of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Mr Suaib Wilberforce Adams.

Harmony

Inaugurating the UEW Governing Council, Dr Opoku Prempeh charged the members to ensure that peace and stability returned to the campus for the smooth running of academic programmes.

"I further charge you to deal with a number of outstanding grievances of certain individuals in the university to ensure harmony on the labour front," he said.

The minister also asked the council to set a date for congregation as soon as possible.

"Thousands of young men and women remain at home, anxious to graduate in order to pursue employment or further studies.

"However, they are not able to do so because of the absence of a council. You must, therefore, take the necessary steps aimed primarily at bringing relief to them," he directed.

Dr Opoku Prempeh informed the council that he had received a petition from a former Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Mawutor Avoke, and other former officers of the university and directed members to take necessary and relevant actions on those grievances.

He outlined the mandate of the council to include training students to acquire the necessary professional and academic competencies for teaching in tertiary and pre-tertiary institutions.

UDS

On the UDS, Dr Prempeh asked the management of the university not to allow its campuses to be used as breeding grounds for violence and other anti-social activities.

He explained that university campuses were grooming grounds for future leaders of the country and not for unsocial behaviours or places for ethnic divisions.

He urged the council members to place their diverse expertise and experiences at the disposal of the university to effectively and efficiently manage its limited resources to fulfill its vision for national development.

“While remaining focused on your core duties, you are advised to consider the sensitivities of other stakeholders with great circumspection, so as not to unduly disadvantage the vulnerable and the less-privileged,” he advised the council.

Responsibility

Dr Opoku Prempeh said the government had high expectations of the UDS to educate, train and shape the younger generation to take up positions of authority and responsibilities in future.

“This involves an abiding concern to extend the frontiers of knowledge through research and scholarship, producing scientifically literate and technologically competent graduates.

“It also involves an abiding concern to develop thinkers who are competent in their fields of study and prepared to push the boundaries of their disciplines and also develop citizens willing and able to contribute their knowledge and skills to national development,” he said.

Responses

The UEW Council Chairman, Prof. Mireku, thanked the government for their appointment, saying: "We pledge to uphold, fulfil and promote the policy directives, mandate, core values and statutes of the university as we, together with relevant stakeholders, leverage the achievements of the institution to surmount the challenges and threats to its growth."

For his part, the Chairman of the UDS Council, Mr Kuenyehia, expressed the gratitude of members to the government and pledged to work hard to fulfil the mandate of the university.