The Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Prof D.D Kuupole, says the university’s certificates are not for sale.
He has, therefore, warned unscrupulous persons colluding to forge UCC certificates for sale to unemployed persons to desist from the practice and advised employers both locally and abroad to do due diligence to seek the authenticity of these certificates before employing prospective applicants.
Prof. Kuupole was speaking at the sixth session of the 47th congregation of the Institute of Education and College of Distance Education (CODE) of the university, over the weekend.
It was a three-day session during which 10,080 graduates comprising 2,372 from the Institute of Education Studies and 7,708 from the CODE graduated.
He explained that the high demand for UCC graduates had caused some unscrupulous persons to continuously forge the certificates for prospective applicants seeking employment.
He said the university was also working to ensure the sanctity of its certificates, pointing out that, “The issue is a problem both in the country and abroad”.
He said it was obvious that there had been a significant increase in the number of students who successfully completed their programme of study.
Prof. Kuupole said the drop-out rate of students of the CODE had also gone down considerably while the general academic performance had improved considerably.
Distance Education
Prof. Kuupole said distance education had helped to increase, significantly, access to higher education.
He, however, advised beneficiaries of the distance education programme to help change the fortunes of particularly, the education sector, and all other sectors in the country where they found themselves, and not only use their certificates to secure higher salaries.
He stated that higher education for teachers in particular, must reflect in a remarkably improved performance in the nation’s educational standards, pointing out that in pursuit of integrating Information, Communications Technology (ICT) in distance learning in the university, the CODE had completed an e-learning platform for use for teaching and learning.
With the full activation of the platform, he said, students could hopefully register, pay fees and access their academic records online.
However, he said, there still remained the poor ICT infrastructure at the regional centres, pointing out that those challenges were being adequately addressed.
CODE Expansion
On expansion programmes, he stated that UCC through the CODE opened 12 new centres across the country.
He said the sod had also been cut for the construction of two three-storey learning centres in Wa in the Upper West Regionand Zuarungu in the Upper East Region this year.
He advised the graduands to work hard and be honest in all they do to impact positively on the lives of the people in their communities.
Sir Sam Jonah
In his address, Sir Sam Jonah, Chancellor of the university, noted that distance education was a sure way to acquire higher education and advised the graduands to make the best of the education they had acquired.
At an earlier session, the Minister of Education, Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, in a speech read on her behalf, commended UCC for its efforts at digitise its teaching and learning.
Nana Sam Brew Butler, Chairman of the Governing Council of the university also urged the graduates to give back to help develop the university.
Source: Daily Graphic
Showing posts with label Distance Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Distance Education. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Sunday, May 31, 2015
UCC completes e-learning platform
The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has completed an e-learning platform for the College of Distance Education (CoDE), as part of efforts to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in distance learning.
With the full activation of the platform, it is expected that student registration, payment of fees, academic records and detailed results, will be easily accessible online to students of the distance programme of the university.
Prof. Domwini D. Kuupole, Vice Chancellor of UCC, announced this at the sixth session of the 47th Congregation of UCC held on Thursday, to graduate 4,008 students who completed various programmes of study at the Institute of Education and CoDE for the 2013/14 academic year.
The students were awarded Degrees and Diplomas in Basic Education, Psychology, and Foundational Studies.
Prof. Kuupole noted that the UCC was in talks with regional directors of education and other stakeholders, to smoothly integrate the graduates into the sector, and other deficient sectors, in efforts to make the distance education programme more relevant in the educational sector.
He, therefore, charged the graduands to be committed, and work hard to contribute their quota to the improvement of the educational sector.
Nana Brew Butler, Chairman of the UCC Council, advised the graduands not to be content with the Degrees and Diplomas awarded them, but rather climb higher the academic ladder.
In his valedictory address, the overall best graduand, Mr. Bernard Gyimah Antwi, admonished his colleagues to exhibit a high sense of excellence and quality in all their endeavours.
Source: GNA
With the full activation of the platform, it is expected that student registration, payment of fees, academic records and detailed results, will be easily accessible online to students of the distance programme of the university.
Prof. Domwini D. Kuupole, Vice Chancellor of UCC, announced this at the sixth session of the 47th Congregation of UCC held on Thursday, to graduate 4,008 students who completed various programmes of study at the Institute of Education and CoDE for the 2013/14 academic year.
The students were awarded Degrees and Diplomas in Basic Education, Psychology, and Foundational Studies.
Prof. Kuupole noted that the UCC was in talks with regional directors of education and other stakeholders, to smoothly integrate the graduates into the sector, and other deficient sectors, in efforts to make the distance education programme more relevant in the educational sector.
He, therefore, charged the graduands to be committed, and work hard to contribute their quota to the improvement of the educational sector.
Nana Brew Butler, Chairman of the UCC Council, advised the graduands not to be content with the Degrees and Diplomas awarded them, but rather climb higher the academic ladder.
In his valedictory address, the overall best graduand, Mr. Bernard Gyimah Antwi, admonished his colleagues to exhibit a high sense of excellence and quality in all their endeavours.
Source: GNA
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Education Ministry to consider inclusive educational system
Accra, May 11, GNA - Professor Sitsofe Anku, the Director of the Meagasa Mathematics Academy, says teachers contribute to the increasing poor performance of students in the study of Mathematics across the country.
Prof Anku said most Mathematics teachers had failed the subject during examinations and decided to use teaching as the last resort to earn money, stressing that teaching was a profession, and needed professional training.The professor made the comments in Accra at a national training of trainers of Mathematics, which brought together some selected basic and Junior High School teachers across the country under the theme “Revamping Mathematics Education in Ghana Through Transformation”.
The training which began from April 27 to May 8, with support from the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service.
The trainers were taken through subjects such as breaking mental barrier in Mathematics, co-operative learning strategies, Mathematics modelling, Algebra, magic square and deductive reasoning on platonic solids.
Prof Anku said the training was necessitated because there had been a massive failure in Mathematics from basic to the tertiary and had become a national concern which needed holistic approach to address the menace.
“If teachers are knowledgeable in Mathematics, it makes it easy for students to comprehend and appreciate the subject thereby impacting positively on their performance,” he added.
He said the country’s curriculum was geared towards preparing for examinations and that their outfits prepared students to be analytical and tackle real life problem solutions.
“Teachers need to understand the principles and methods of mathematics to be able to teach students for easy apprehension and that the Academy has introduced software which help them to understand mathematics concepts”.
He encouraged all students to appreciate the study of Mathematics, since there was Mathematics in every profession, stressing that the Academy would soon launch a book christened “Mathematics Everywhere”, a career guide to motivate students to like mathematics.
Prof Anku said the Academy holds camps for students and workshops for teachers to nurture talents of students in mathematics, adding that students who have gone through the Academy have passed successfully.
“We had students who have failed in mathematics in the West African Senior Secondary School, but the Academy use only three months to teach them and had grade ‘A’ in Mathematics”.
Some of the teachers who spoke with the Ghana News Agency expressed satisfaction about the programme, stating that they have been transformed because the training involves more practical concepts.
They said the training had been beneficial in that they were allowed to explore to come out with their own concepts and derive formulas for them.
Source: Ghana News Agency
Prof Anku said most Mathematics teachers had failed the subject during examinations and decided to use teaching as the last resort to earn money, stressing that teaching was a profession, and needed professional training.The professor made the comments in Accra at a national training of trainers of Mathematics, which brought together some selected basic and Junior High School teachers across the country under the theme “Revamping Mathematics Education in Ghana Through Transformation”.
The training which began from April 27 to May 8, with support from the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service.
The trainers were taken through subjects such as breaking mental barrier in Mathematics, co-operative learning strategies, Mathematics modelling, Algebra, magic square and deductive reasoning on platonic solids.
Prof Anku said the training was necessitated because there had been a massive failure in Mathematics from basic to the tertiary and had become a national concern which needed holistic approach to address the menace.
“If teachers are knowledgeable in Mathematics, it makes it easy for students to comprehend and appreciate the subject thereby impacting positively on their performance,” he added.
He said the country’s curriculum was geared towards preparing for examinations and that their outfits prepared students to be analytical and tackle real life problem solutions.
“Teachers need to understand the principles and methods of mathematics to be able to teach students for easy apprehension and that the Academy has introduced software which help them to understand mathematics concepts”.
He encouraged all students to appreciate the study of Mathematics, since there was Mathematics in every profession, stressing that the Academy would soon launch a book christened “Mathematics Everywhere”, a career guide to motivate students to like mathematics.
Prof Anku said the Academy holds camps for students and workshops for teachers to nurture talents of students in mathematics, adding that students who have gone through the Academy have passed successfully.
“We had students who have failed in mathematics in the West African Senior Secondary School, but the Academy use only three months to teach them and had grade ‘A’ in Mathematics”.
Some of the teachers who spoke with the Ghana News Agency expressed satisfaction about the programme, stating that they have been transformed because the training involves more practical concepts.
They said the training had been beneficial in that they were allowed to explore to come out with their own concepts and derive formulas for them.
Source: Ghana News Agency
Friday, May 1, 2015
Tertiary education should not be elitist - Professor Josephus Anamuah-Mensah
Cape Coast, April 30, GNA - Professor Josephus Anamuah-Mensah, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, says the efforts to raise Ghana unto a higher middle income status would be unrealistic if access to tertiary education remains elitist.
He said currently access to tertiary education as measured by the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is 12 per cent which means that a large number of talents lie dormant and uncultivated to contribute to the country’s prosperity.
He said there is the need to increase the existing percentage to about 30 per cent to be able to move the nation beyond the lower middle-income status.
“There is a higher education demand surge but many Ghanaians are deprived of tertiary education, only 12 per cent of post-secondary school graduates get access to the university. We are struggling to move beyond the lower middle-income but the figure is too low for a higher middle-income status,” he said.
Prof Anamuah-Mensah said this when he delivered the keynote address at the maiden annual Easter forum organised by the College of Distance Education (CoDE) of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
The forum, which was on the theme: “Distance education: Our hope for a sustained human capacity development in Ghana,” was aimed at addressing the issues concerning distance education.
He said the role of higher education especially for African countries cannot be taken lightly and urged Ghanaians not to view tertiary education as something for the elites alone.
Distance education is the best alternative to addressing the problem of limited access to tertiary education as it offers the working populace the opportunity to improve upon their knowledge in the work place, Prof Anamuah-Mensah said.
He said with 49.3 per cent of the total number of teachers at the basic school level being untrained, distance education would obviously be the recommended option for them if they want to go to school while they remain in the classrooms.
The former Vice-Chancellor urged the organisers of distance education programmes to put in place employable skills courses that are work-based and expand its scope to introduce technical and vocational programmes.
Professor D. D Kuupole, Vice Chancellor of UCC, said distance education since its inception in 1994, has become embedded in the country’s educational sector and called on all to embrace it.
He said distance education makes higher education flexible and offer a larger number of people the opportunity to enrol in any programme.
He said the discussions, sharing of ideas and innovations that may come up during the forum would go a long way to make advancement in the distance learning programs.
Heads of training colleges, education administrators, teachers, university dons and the Director of CoDE, Prof, George Oduro were present at the one-day forum.
Source: Ghana News Agency
He said currently access to tertiary education as measured by the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is 12 per cent which means that a large number of talents lie dormant and uncultivated to contribute to the country’s prosperity.
He said there is the need to increase the existing percentage to about 30 per cent to be able to move the nation beyond the lower middle-income status.
“There is a higher education demand surge but many Ghanaians are deprived of tertiary education, only 12 per cent of post-secondary school graduates get access to the university. We are struggling to move beyond the lower middle-income but the figure is too low for a higher middle-income status,” he said.
Prof Anamuah-Mensah said this when he delivered the keynote address at the maiden annual Easter forum organised by the College of Distance Education (CoDE) of the University of Cape Coast (UCC).
The forum, which was on the theme: “Distance education: Our hope for a sustained human capacity development in Ghana,” was aimed at addressing the issues concerning distance education.
He said the role of higher education especially for African countries cannot be taken lightly and urged Ghanaians not to view tertiary education as something for the elites alone.
Distance education is the best alternative to addressing the problem of limited access to tertiary education as it offers the working populace the opportunity to improve upon their knowledge in the work place, Prof Anamuah-Mensah said.
He said with 49.3 per cent of the total number of teachers at the basic school level being untrained, distance education would obviously be the recommended option for them if they want to go to school while they remain in the classrooms.
The former Vice-Chancellor urged the organisers of distance education programmes to put in place employable skills courses that are work-based and expand its scope to introduce technical and vocational programmes.
Professor D. D Kuupole, Vice Chancellor of UCC, said distance education since its inception in 1994, has become embedded in the country’s educational sector and called on all to embrace it.
He said distance education makes higher education flexible and offer a larger number of people the opportunity to enrol in any programme.
He said the discussions, sharing of ideas and innovations that may come up during the forum would go a long way to make advancement in the distance learning programs.
Heads of training colleges, education administrators, teachers, university dons and the Director of CoDE, Prof, George Oduro were present at the one-day forum.
Source: Ghana News Agency
Monday, April 27, 2015
University of Ghana acquires software to detect plagiarism
The University of Ghana has deployed software under its current e-Learning platform that detects plagiarism in all forms, from class assignments to project works and other academic work.
The software which is part of the university’s e-Learning management system called Sakai is aimed at enhancing original thought among students and promoting excellent academic work.
The Dean of Distance Learning of the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Yaw Oheneba Sekyi, who disclosed this to the media after the 2015 matriculation at the Kumasi Learning Centre, said all the distance learning campuses of the school had been connected through a fibre optic to the main campus at Legon in Accra.
He said the students had also been offered android-based tablets which were web-based and allowed students to access course materials electronically and submit assignments as well as interact among themselves on the same platform.
Vice Chancellor
In a speech read on his behalf, the Vice- Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, announced that the university recently through the government secured a $37.5 million ICT project for its distance education programme.
He said under the project, the Accra, Koforidua, Sunyani, Takoradi, Tamale, Tsito and Wa learning centres have been equipped with modern facilities with ultra-modern computer laboratories and smart classrooms.
The rest are video conference facilities, backup generating sets and outdoor Wi-Fi, while 3,000 Internet-enabled android tablets, preloaded with relevant teaching and learning materials have been distributed to students.
In all, 1,184 students were enrolled for the 2014/2015 academic year.
Prof. Aryeetey said students admitted for Distance Education this year would have all tutorials and examinations in their centres, without having to come down to Legon as had been the practice.
Source: By Donald Ato Dapatem, Graphic.com.gh
The software which is part of the university’s e-Learning management system called Sakai is aimed at enhancing original thought among students and promoting excellent academic work.
The Dean of Distance Learning of the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Yaw Oheneba Sekyi, who disclosed this to the media after the 2015 matriculation at the Kumasi Learning Centre, said all the distance learning campuses of the school had been connected through a fibre optic to the main campus at Legon in Accra.
He said the students had also been offered android-based tablets which were web-based and allowed students to access course materials electronically and submit assignments as well as interact among themselves on the same platform.
Vice Chancellor
In a speech read on his behalf, the Vice- Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, announced that the university recently through the government secured a $37.5 million ICT project for its distance education programme.
He said under the project, the Accra, Koforidua, Sunyani, Takoradi, Tamale, Tsito and Wa learning centres have been equipped with modern facilities with ultra-modern computer laboratories and smart classrooms.
The rest are video conference facilities, backup generating sets and outdoor Wi-Fi, while 3,000 Internet-enabled android tablets, preloaded with relevant teaching and learning materials have been distributed to students.
In all, 1,184 students were enrolled for the 2014/2015 academic year.
Prof. Aryeetey said students admitted for Distance Education this year would have all tutorials and examinations in their centres, without having to come down to Legon as had been the practice.
Source: By Donald Ato Dapatem, Graphic.com.gh
The University of Ghana holds three simultaneous matriculation at Distance Education (DE) Learning Centres.
Accra, April 27, GNA – The University of Ghana (UG) for the first time, has held three simultaneous matriculation at its Accra City Campus, Kumasi, and Tamale Distance Education (DE) Learning Centres.
Matriculants at the Accra City Campus were drawn from Accra, Cape Coast, Tsito, Koforidua and Takoradi Learning Centres, while that of the Kumasi and Sunyani centres took place in Kumasi; whereas the Tamale centre hosted students from Tamale, Bolgatanga and Wa centres.
Addressing the matriculants at the Accra City Campus, Professor Ernest Ayittey, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of UG, said, for the first time, matriculation ceremonies were being held concurrently in three regional learning centres, as part of the long-term goal to transform the regional centres into satellite campuses of the University.
He said there had being a number of changes in the DE mode of the University starting from the 2014/2015 academic year which aimed at improving on delivery and making the distance learning mode more attractive to students.
The VC mentioned that one of such changes was the restructuring and expansion of the programmes on offer.
Prof Ayittey announced that programmes being offered had been expanded to include Nursing and Information Technology.
He said the Nursing programme, run in conjunction with the School of Nursing, had proven to be particularly popular in most regional centres.
He disclosed that a total of 653 applications were received this academic year for Nursing, out of which 513 were admitted and 450 enrolled, representing 38 per cent of the total number of enrolled DE students.
The VC said the Bachelor of Science in Administration and Bachelor of Arts programmes remained popular choices for their DE students, with 346 and 367 students respectively accepting offers this academic year.
He pointed out that there were 21 students enrolled in their newly-introduced Bachelor of Science programme in Information Technology, which for this academic year was being offered at the Accra City Campus.
On the general enrolment, the VC observed that figures for the 2014/2015 academic year were up from last year’s figure of 775 to 1184, representing a 52 per cent increase.
“We are working hard as a University to not only to increase the numbers of our students in the Distance Learning mode, but also to improve the facilities and learning experiences that our students have,” Prof Ayittey stated.
“Starting from this year, DE students were admitted to their regional centres, and with the improvement of facilities in the centres, the students will have all tutorials and examinations in their centres, without having to come down to Legon, as has been the practice over the years,” he added.
He said the collegiate system which was implemented at the beginning of this academic year would provide more room for innovations at the school and college levels, and the semi-autonomous nature of the colleges would enable them take more decisions on their academic programmes and administration.
Prof Ayittey recounted that the University recently inaugurated a $ 37.5 million Information Communication Technology (ICT) project for its DE programme under the Chinese Phase Two ICT Project.
He said the project, funded with a Chinese Government loan procured by the Ghana Government on behalf of UG, had deployed an integrated Digital Mobile Learning platform for DE.
“This is part of a larger set of activities reflecting the strong desire of UG to use ICT as a major strategy in achieving its future goals,” Prof Ayittey said.
The VC said as part of the project, the Accra, Koforidua, Sunyani, Takoradi, Tsito and Wa Centres had been equipped with modern facilities; with each centre provided with ultra-modern computer labs, smart classrooms, a video conference facility, backup generators and outdoor Wi-Fi.
He noted that in addition, as part of the project; 3000 internet enabled android tablets had been acquired; pre-loaded with the relevant teaching and learning materials, and distributed to newly admitted students.
Prof Ayittey said the DE programme was therefore, in the process of moving away from paper-based teaching materials to Sakai, an eLearning platform, which has enhanced teaching and learning.
“Also as part of the plan to grow regional learning centres into campuses of the University, work has started on the rehabilitation and refurbishment of the regional learning centres,” the VC said.
Prof Ayittey further urged the students to take their studies seriously and determine to be part of the 2017 and 2018 graduating classes for those admitted to level 200 and 100 respectively.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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