Professor Johnson Nyarko Boampong, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), has entreated graduating teachers of the school to embrace technological and innovative teaching methods to make the best impact on their students.

He urged them to stay informed about educational policies and adapt accordingly while sharpening their communication and instructional techniques.

He said as teachers, they needed to build rapport and have empathy towards their students to create a friendly academic environment where the students could reach their full potential.

The Vice Chancellor was addressing the first and second sessions of the university’s 56th congregation which graduated 6,819 students at the Institute of Education of the College of Education Studies.

The first session graduated 2,873 students who pursued five-semester sandwich programmes in education while the second session comprised 3,946 graduands who undertook three-semester programmes as well as beneficiaries of the Ministry of Finance’s Ghana CARES Obantanpa TUC Programmes.

A total of 578 students graduated with first class, 3,493 with second class upper, 1,946 with second class lower, 581 with third class and 229 had passes.

Mr. Eric Osei was adjudged the overall best student with Grade Points Average (GPA) of 3.97 and awarded a laptop, undisclosed amount of cash and a plaque.

“We are confident that you have been empowered with knowledge and skills to enable you to make a positive impact in the society, and the world at large.

“Now that you have received quality education and skills, do not wait to be employed by the government. Go out there, and create your own jobs,” Professor Boampong urged.

The Vice Chancellor intimated that despite the positive strides management had made towards infrastructural development, the school was still grappling with deficit in infrastructure, particularly in students’ accommodation on campus which had forced most students to rent hostels and apartments around campus.

The situation, he bemoaned, had resulted in high incidence of theft and robbery attacks on students, undermining efforts to ensure the safety of students.

Prof. Boampong pointed to some failed agreements with certain organisations to build hostels in the past and expressed the school’s resolve to deal with the accommodation challenge through a collaboration with the UCC branch of the Ghana Universities’ Staff Superannuation Scheme.

Touting some achievements of the College of Education Studies, he said they were mentoring many Colleges of Education and organising continuous development programmes for in-service teachers in the Central Region in areas including good governance, finance, administration, and academic research.

He said in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the Trades Union Congress, the college was running special programmes for non-professional teachers in private schools under Ghana CARES Obatanpa programme.

He added that it also undertook a project to adopt selected low-performing basic schools in Cape Coast to improve teaching and learning.

The Vice Chancellor further flaunted UCC’s position as the topmost ranked university in Ghana and West Africa and among the top 10 ranked universities in Africa.

He said the feat was unprecedented in any university in Ghana and assured that they would continue to forge strategic partnerships in areas of their core mandates to consolidate their achievements.

Prof. Boampong appealed to the university community to ensure that the campus was violence-free going into the 2024 general elections.

He admonished the student body, members of staff and management to be tolerant of one another, reminding them of the potential dangers which accompanied conflicts and war.

The valedictorian, Mr Osei, encouraged his colleagues to continue to add value to themselves and put their knowledge and skills to use to benefit society.