The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong has conferred degrees on 29 graduates who pursued programmes at the postgraduate levels at CSIR College of Science and Technology (CCST). Prof. Boampong made the conferment at the second congregation of the College at its Fumesua campus in the Ashanti Region. The 29 graduates were from the Fumesua and Accra campuses of the College.
The Vice-Chancellor of UCC, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, congratulated the College on the feat it had achieved as a young tertiary institution. He pledged the University’s commitment to support the College to achieve its mandate and also become one of the best tertiary institutions in Ghana and beyond. “We will always provide quality mentorship so that you can be on your own to offer excellent services,” he noted.
Prof. Boampong graced the congregation with the Registrar, Mr. Jeff Teye Emmanuel Onyame.
In his address, the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, announced that the Ministry was taking steps to amend the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Act to make CCST to operate optimally. The CSIR established the College with a goal to increasing the scientific capability to drive Ghana’s socio-economic development through science and technology application in line with the Council’s mandate.
The Sector Minister, commended the Director General and Management Committee of CSIR for establishing the College, and noted the College was well positioned to address the challenges of industry, businesses, academic and local communities. Dr Afriyie commended CSIR for using existing structures and facilities at its disposal to train higher and better human resources needed for national development.
“This model used in running the College is very laudable as it will help to produce graduates with the needed practical skills and knowledge required by the industry at a least cost to the government in terms of infrastructure needs for establishing such a quality tertiary institution,” he noted.
He said the approach by the Government to place science and technology application at the centre of development was to ensure that science, technology and innovation were mainstreamed at all levels of socio-economic activities. Dr Afriyie, therefore, implored the Governing Council to ensure the College focused on its core mandate of training post-graduate scientists to support the agenda of the Ministry to make science the fulcrum of national development.
The President of the CCST, Prof. Mark Appiah, indicated that the College would continue to be creative and innovative in training students whose skills would be needed in the job market through the appropriate research.
“We are more than hopeful that this can be done because the CCST is collaborating with CSIR, an organisation that has the largest aggregation of scientists and technologists in Ghana and also endowed with the state-of-the-art facilities and field stations dotted throughout the length and breadth of Ghana,” he said.
According to Prof. Appiah, education was a partnership of mutual commitment and that the College had fulfilled its side of the partnership by providing the graduates with the appropriate skills and building attitudes that could enhance their contributions to sustainable development. The Paramount Chief of Kumawu Barima Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua, who represented the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, indicated that it was gratifying to note that a premier research institution like the CSIR was making judicious use of its available human capital and other resources to advance science, technology and innovation.
He congratulated the graduates on the feat they had attained and urged them to use the knowledge acquired to contribute to the Government’s Planting for Food and Jobs and the One District One Factory initiative to enhance the country’s economic development.