UG organises panel discussion to celebrate 75-year anniversary

The Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University of Ghana, Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, has urged both present and former students of the university to promote and stand by the university as it celebrates 75 years of existence. 

Speaking at the UG@75 Panel Discussion dubbed “Back to the Future: Conversations with Former UG Captains on Wear UG Day’’, on Wednesday, Prof. Amfo said a Student Experience Centre, a project that will change the face of student services at the university, would be constructed as the 75th anniversary legacy project.

She said a fundraising dinner scheduled to be held on December 22, 2023, with the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and other dignitaries would help to raise funds for the project.

She explained that as part of the 75th anniversary celebrations, the conversation with former UG captains was put together to help assess how the university community had lived up to its core mandate of creating an enabling environment that makes the university increasingly relevant to national and global development through cutting-edge research, as well as high quality teaching and learning.

She said it was also put together to reflect on the existence and impact of the University of Ghana for the past 75 years and to strategise for a more prosperous future.

It also afforded the UG community a platform to engage former leaders of the university to share with the audience invaluable insights on the historical trajectory of the university a it retraced its steps back to its origins.

The event was part of activities lined up to celebrate the 75 years’ anniversary of the country’s foremost university and brought together present and past students, lecturers and administrators of the university at the Great Hall.

Faculty, staff, students, alumni at the event wore the UG anniversary cloth to mark “Wear UG Day.”

Moderated by the General Manager, Citi FM/TV & Host of Citi Breakfast Show, Bernard Avle, the panel included a former Vice-Chancellor of the university (1996 - 2002) Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, and Professor Ernest Aryeetey, also a former Vice-Chancellor (2010 - 2016).

Others were a former Registrar of the university (2013 - 2021), Mercy Haizel-Ashia, and Carlotta Bannerman Amande, a former Student Leader (2003 -2004) of the university.

Prof. Addae-Mensah, who started the conversation, recalled his time on the university campus as a student in the 1960s when he said life on campus was somehow easy.

“The food was good, and we were served by stewards wearing white,” he said.

He explained that the student population during his time at the university was manageable and afforded them a comfortable life on campus where a student only needed to study hard and not to worry about food and accommodation where there was only two students in a room.

Prof. Aryeetey

For Prof. Aryeetey, who entered the university in the 70s, he said as an economics student, he had time on his hands as there were no lectures on Fridays, and the students had the opportunity to hang out and drink beer.

“So I was shocked when I became VC and realised that there was no beer on campus,” he said.  

Mrs Haizel-Ashia, who was the first female Registrar of the university, also recounted her stay at Volta Hall where she sometimes “perched” till her time as a administrator of the university.

Highlighting some of her achievements as Registrar, she said she effectively oversaw the creation of the college system at the university and the adoption of digitisation to improve efficiency.

Mrs Amande shared the strategies she used during her time as a student leader in the 2000s to prevent a demonstration over the university’s decision to ban all electrical appliances on campus.

She said instead of going on demonstrations, she chose dialogue and got issues resolved.