REPORT ON CELEBRATION

AFRICAN UNIVERSITY DAY

at

KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI

on

TUESDAY 13^TH NOVEMBER, 2001

INTRODUCTION

This report covers the activities that marked the celebration of the African University Day at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, on 12^th and 13^th November 2001. The climax of the African University Day was celebrated on the 13^th of November 2001. A number of the universities in Ghana were represented at the KNUST campus for a day of exhibitions and a lecture.

This was the first joint celebration by the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals (CVCP). The budget for the celebration was 18, 000,000. The new arrangement arrived at was for the organisers to make contributions as follows:

AAU - Ë10,000,000

CVCP - Ë 4,000,000

KNUST (host) - Ë4,000,000

It was agreed to send contributions to the AAU, which would disburse the funds and take care of the accounts. This was to be the arrangement for future celebrations.

ORGANISATION

Since this was a joint celebration, the membership of the organising committee was as follows:

Mr. Yawo Assigbley AAU Chairman

Mr. S. W. Opoku-Agyakwa CVCP Member

Prof. K. Sraku-Lartey KNUST Member

Mr. C. K. Gyamfi KNUST Member

Mr. Adams K. Anane KNUST Member

Mrs. Victoria Duah AAU Secretary

Prof. Sraku-Lartey, Mr. Gyamfi and Mr. Anane formed the Local Organising Committee (LOC). The Pro Vice-Chancellor of KNUST was an advisor and a facilitator to the Committee. The statutory date for the celebration fell on 12^th November, and should have been observed on the date. However, the Committee felt that, Monday on which the date fell would not be convenient. The following reasons were considered:

§ one full working day preceding the celebration day was needed to make the necessary follow-ups to ensure that plans put in place would be working.

§ to avoid people meeting guests on Sunday, a non-working day, which would have been an additional cost.

In view of this it was decided that, the various university campuses should organise their own activities locally to mark the day on the 12^th November whilst the climax of the celebration to be hosted by KNUST would be on the 13^th November.

PRELIMINARY ACTIVITIES

About a week before the climax of the celebrations, a delegation made up of representatives from the CVCP and the AAU, paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Education and the Minister of State for Basic, Secondary and Girl-child Education. The purpose was to brief them on the essence of the celebrations and to invite them to the exhibitions and the lecture.

Public awareness for the celebration was created through announcements on the television and on radio. The occasion was also advertised in the newspapers through press releases.

KNUST CELEBRATION (12TH NOVEMBER)

In KNUST, an entertaining football match between students of the Independence Hall and Unity Hall marked the Day. Unity Hall, which defeated Independence Hall on a 12-11 penalty shoot-out won the trophy. The Special Guest of Honour was the Vice-Chancellor.

THE CLIMAX OF THE CELEBRATION (13TH NOVEMBER)

Activities that marked the climax of the celebrations were an exhibition and a lecture.

The Exhibition

An exhibition to showcase the products and brochures of the universities was held at the basement of the KNUST Library Complex. Several units of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology participated in the exhibition. Some of these units are

The College of Art
Technology Consultancy Centre
Architecture Department
School of Engineering
Maintenance Departmnet
The Kumasi Virtual Centre
The Medical School

On the stands were products, brochures and posters. There were a few demonstrations. The University of Cape Coast, the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (CVCP) also mounted stands where information, publications, posters etc. were displayed.

All the invited guests, students and staff of the universities attended the exhibition in their numbers. The Koo Nimo group performed cultural drumming and dancing during the exhibition and at intervals during the lecture.

The Lecture

The lecture followed the exhibition. Present at the lecture were the following (see attached copy of the programme):

§ Prof. J.S.K. Ayim-Chairman, CVCP and Vice Chancellor of

KNUST

§ Dr. Dominic Tarpeh-Head of Finance and Administration at the

AAU Secretariat (representing the Secretary-General of the AAU).

§ A representative of the Ashanti Regional Minister

§ Prof. Ameyaw-Ekumfi, the Minister of Education

§ Ms. Christine Churcher, Minister of State (for Basic, Secondary and Girl-child Education).

§ Prof. Ivan Addae-Mensah, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana.

§ Prof. E. A. Obeng, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast.

There were several guests from the various universities and a number of staff and students from KNUST present.

The main lecture to mark the celebration was delivered by Prof. Rev. S. K. Adjepong, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast. The theme for the lecture was " Globalisation and Higher Education in Africa". The major points of the lecture were that, African Universities should take advantage of the current developments in Information and Communication Technology to interaction with each other as well as with institutions outside Africa. The threat to the growth of public universities were identified as the lack of funding which, if not addressed, would lead to the fall in standards and a shift to the private universities

The representative of the Secretary General of the AAU, Dr. Tarpeh, took time to explain the functions of the AAU, which was mainly to bring together African universities and encourage collaboration in teaching and research for the benefit of the continent. He mentioned that the AAU had a programme to assist lectures and students in their academic pursuits. This turned out to be a good education to many present, especially the students.

The main discussion was led by Prof. Ivan Addae-Mensah who took the opportunity to explain his stand on some fundamental issues regarding funding of the universities, which many in the country perceived as being controversial. The interactions that followed were very cordial and fruitful as guests, staff and students argued and exchanged ideas freely.

The programme was crowned with a cocktail at the KNUST Senior Staff Club. From all indications, the activities enjoyed a large patronage from students, lecturers and the general public.

PROBLEMS

1. In spite of notices sent to the universities by the secretariat of the CVCP to indicate their desire to participate in the exhibitions, none of the institutions responded until the day of the exhibitions when some institutions arrived with their materials. This almost distorted arrangements made by the LOC, which had contacted units at KNUST to fill up the stands.

For subsequent exhibitions, efforts must be made by the CVCP Secretariat to contact the universities well in advance for them to prepare to exhibit.

2. Owing to some technical problems funding for the activities was received late. Most of the activities had to be either pre-financed by the members of the

LOC, or arranged on credit. This caused some delays in executing some of the arrangements. However, since this was the first time such an arrangement was being made and the time for planning was short, note has to be taken in future celebrations to start planning early enough to avoid such problems.