Professor Ernest Aryeetey, a Development Economist, was on Monday inducted into office as the eleventh Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana to lead its transformation agenda for the next four years.
The induction makes Professor Aryeetey the 8th Ghanaian to occupy the office of the Vice-Chancellor of the UG since its establishment in 1948.
Mr. Kofi Annan, Chancellor of the UG, administered the Oath of Office to Professor Aryeetey before a packed audience comprising academics, diplomats, Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, traditional rulers and students at the Great Hall of the university at Legon, Accra.
In his acceptance speech, Professor Aryeetey pledged to transform the institution into a world class university, which would not be just degrees
awarding institution but one that "would produce graduates who could achieve the same degree of learning and knowledge acquisition as they would have, had they gone to university in places like Edinburgh, Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester, Reading amongst others".
He therefore, outlined seven areas that he would pursue vigorously to make the UG a world class institution which include: Promoting academic excellence through enhanced teaching and learning and leadership training, promoting academic excellence through significantly expanded and relevant research and extension, overhaul of governance arrangements in
administration, teaching and research and better management of university assets and facilities.
The rest are: scale-up efforts towards equal opportunities in gender and diversity, enhanced fund-raising activities at unit and central
administration levels and mainstream and enforce structures and processes for monitoring and evaluation.
He said: "I am very committed to making this university a research university to support the process of structural transformation in Ghana and
Africa" adding, "this means to increase significantly the amount and the quality of research being done by the faculty and students".
Professor Aryeetey announced a continuous "rationalization of undergraduate programmes and student numbers to make the most efficient use
of space and human resources" as well as work with all faculties and colleges to set specific targets in terms of graduate training and research
output for specific periods.
He announced that the University of Ghana Medical School, the Dental School and all other component units of the College of Health Sciences would be relocated to the main campus of the university to aid the interdisciplinary approaches to university education, which ensured that all disciplines learned from one another.
He said this was an old dream of the UG adding "this would provide greater opportunity for our future doctors to interact with other
scientists, including those from the social sciences".
"I will pursue vigorously the development of a viable teaching hospital in Legon for this purpose as well as the development of other infrastructure for this undertaking", the new Vice-Chancellor assured.
Professor Aryeetey said students of the university would remain major stakeholders in his pursuit to modernize the university adding "I will
support students' improved access to information through enhanced Information Communication Technology facilities as foundation for developing
their knowledge to enable them to make more significant contributions towards the modernization of the university and its programmes for learning".
He recognised that achieving his vision depended on the amount of resources available to the university and therefore, announced the creation of a Central Development Office to coordinate fund-raising processes to generate more funds to support the university's activities.
He said all Colleges and Faculties would be attached to a well-trained Development Officer whose main responsibility would be to assist with
development of project proposals and the search for financial assistance from potential donors.
Touching on the court case between the UG and the Commonwealth Hall over the intended conversion of the latter into a mixed-gender graduate hall, the new Vice-Chancellor said he wanted the case resolved as quickly as possible to ensure that Commonwealth Hall played a lead role in the process of transforming the university into a world class institution.
He therefore, assured that "I accept the right of Commonwealth Hall students to contribute to discussions of what form this would take".
Professor Aryeetey paid glowing tribute to former Vice-Chancellors of the UG for their roles, which had brought the university to its current status despite the challenges.
He also thanked the Council of the UG for the confidence reposed in him adding "I am ready for the task".
Professor Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe, immediate former Vice-Chancellor of UG, recounted his stewardship saying the university had seen considerable progress in terms of infrastructure, restructuring of courses, introduction of more courses and schools amongst others.
Professor Tagoe thanked Council Members, staff and other stakeholders of the UG for their invaluable support and advice throughout his tenure.
He sounded a caution to the country's education authorities to fund higher education because it would help produce quality human resource to mentor those at the lower levels.
He said the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) law must not be reviewed in a manner that would short-change higher education because this might reverse the gains made over the years.
"Lest we re-enact the difficulties of the 1980s and 1990s where higher education suffered traumatic reverses" he warned.
Justice Dr. Date-Bah, Chairman of Council of the UG, expressed appreciation to Professor Tagoe for his achievements at the university, acknowledging that even though he was appointed at a time the status of UG was sinking, he was able to reverse the trend.
To the new Vice-Chancellor, Justice Date-Bah said a lot was expected of him to move the UG to a higher level.
He assured him of Council's support to succeed.