The graduates came from four colleges namely; College of health Sciences, College of Humanities, College of Basic and Applied Sciences and the College of Education.

The Chancellor of the university, Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, in her address, urged the graduates to reflect on their achievements upon the past four years of their academic journey and told them to focus on what they would want their future to look like.

“The journey going forward regardless of the paths you use, will call for even more hard work but I am certain that each and everyone of you, having made it this far has what it takes to succeed,” she added.

Mrs Chinery-Hesse applauded the university’s management for measures put in place to safeguard the wellbeing of both students and employees since the beginning of the pandemic.

However, she said the pandemic had taught the university lessons and brought about changes such as the increased use of modern technology in its operations.

“In spite of the destructions it brought in its wake, the pandemic has taught us some useful lessons and caused increased use of information technology for everything from lectures to the organisation of meetings to ceremonies such as this,” she said.

Mrs Chinery-Hesse added that many innovations had been introduced to facilitate academic and administrative work and that those innovations would remain a permanent part of the university’s operations even after the pandemic.

She also expressed appreciation to former officers of the university and congratulated and welcomed new members.

“I’m excited to welcome on board for the first time in the university’s history the first all-female set of principal officers made up of myself as the first female Chancellor, Her Ladyship Justice Sophia Akuffo first female Chairperson of council and Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, first female Vice Chancellor,” she said.

Initiatives

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, said the university had decided that academic work as a single cohort, resumed with teaching and learning being organised in-person as well as virtual as an attempt to return the university to normalcy.

She noted that there would be measures to ensure strict compliance to COVID-19 protocols with ongoing vaccination at the university hospital for students,staff and the general public.

Mrs Amfo added that the university was engaging the Ghana Health Service (GHS) for mobile vaccination points on campus and entreated all students and faculty to get vaccinated before resuming.

The vice chancellor said her One student, One Laptop initiative, which was intended to ensure support for students to facilitate academic work, was on course and that a committee had been established to work towards the support for the acquisition of laptops by students and staff who needed them.

Next chapter

A Fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science, Dr Prince Sodoke Amuzu, charged the graduates to manage their expectations while dealing with peer pressure.

He urged them to be decisive in what comes after their qualification and pursue that immediately.