The Presbyterian University College, Ghana (PUCG) held a successful 14th Congregation for its undergraduate students who successfully completed their programmes of study for the 2019/2020 Academic Year.
The Graduation Ceremony which was held in three sessions over two days following strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols graduated 643 students from all the programmes of the University.
This figure is made of 336 males (52.3%) and 307 females (47.7%). Out of the 643 students 109 students, made up of 51 males and 58 females had First Class, 227 made up of 142 males and 135 females obtained Second Class Upper while 237 made up of 133 males and 104 females had Second Class Lower with 20 students obtaining Third Class and Pass divisions.
The statistics show that the majority of the students (52.25%) are within the First Class and Second Class Upper divisions. This suggests an overall good performance of the students.
What is very instructive about the students’ performance is the number of female students who obtained First Class as against their male counterparts. Out of the 109 students who obtained First class, 58, which represent 53.2 are females.
Speaking on the theme Surviving Under the “New Normal” and the Role of Tertiary Institutions, the President of PUCG, Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Adow Obeng said though the coronavirus pandemic has posed a lot of social and economic challenges, it has also paved way for new policies, new ways of working, and new consumer needs and behaviours.
He acknowledged that the closure of schools, colleges and universities challenged, the usual traditional face to face mode of teaching and learning in our educational institutions and believes the situation calls for reform in education delivery; and such will affect the management and operations of educational institutions.
ICT Infrastructure
According to Rev. Prof. Adow Obeng, the switching from face to face mode of teaching to online teaching and learning exposed ICT infrastructure challenges of many educational institutions.
The President of PUCG believes there is the need for urgent collaboration of Government, Industries and Institutions to establish a robust ICT infrastructure to support online teaching and learning. He implored for improved internet connectivity and affordability in the country to help students access eLearning platforms from home.
“We wish that with the support of Government, and telecommunication companies, an ICT infrastructure that allows all tertiary education institutions, including private institutions, to access high quality internet connectivity and cheaply too, to aid online learning up to the PhD level should be fashioned out,” the President said.
“We wish to acknowledge and appreciate the Government’s efforts at providing Wi-Fi to all educational institutions in Ghana. We wish to propose, however, that the Government must equally consider the private educational institutions. To wit Yen nso ye ka ho bi,” he argued for private institutions.
Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Adow Obeng believes that challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic brings to the fore the adoption of hybrid system of learning by tertiary institutions where in-person campus academic work would be complemented by online teaching and learning. “Online teaching and learning has value and should be encouraged and prioritized,” he noted.
Maintenance of Integrity
According to the President of PUCG effective delivery of online teaching requires that the institutions, maintain academic and administrative integrity.
He said Management, staff and students should be committed to, and demonstrate honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and good work ethics. “Such will gain respect for the institutions online degrees,” he noted.
Support for eLearning Activities
Rev. Prof. Adow Obeng stated that the tertiary education regulatory bodies have a critical role to play in the formulation of appropriate eLearning policies that will guide, support, direct and ensure the integrity of online teaching and learning; provide adequate logistics for regular evaluation and monitoring of both online and in-person programmes. He believes that will continue to promote quality in tertiary institutions.
The Response of PUCG to the COVID 19 Challenges
The Presbyterian University College, Ghana has over the years established an electronic learning platform and(e-learning) Unit to support teaching and learning activities in the University but the online teaching and learning was on a very small scale.
However, since the outbreak of the corona virus, with the closure of the Universities on 16th March, 2020, there has been high level of activity on the university’s online learning platform.
The University Management in accordance with the directives of the President of Ghana on the closure of all Public and Private Universities, decided and directed all teaching and learning activities to be done via the e-learning platform in order to complete teaching for the academic year.
To this end, the University invested in the eLearning infrastructure to upgrade the system which included a new domain name https://pucgelearningcenter.net on a Virtual Private Server (VPS) that offered 4GB of RAM and 120 GB of Storage. This new service enhanced the speed and availability of the platform and allowed all students to be online at the same time.
The eLearning platform has been integrated with video conferencing software like the BigBlueButton and Zoom that allow lecturers and students to have live lectures which are simultaneously recorded and made available to the students for future referencing.
The platform is also embedded with other offline recording systems like TechSmith and Snagit which allow lecturers to record their Lectures offline and upload to the platform for the students.
These features make it possible for the Lecturers to provide students with slides of their power point presentations, audios and videos of the life presentations.
The platform also enables collaboration and teamwork between Lecturers and students on one side and among students on the other. The communication features on the eLearning platform which includes discussions, forums and messaging allow lecturers and students to work together, share ideas and ask questions to ensure effective teaching and learning processes.
This led to a situation where a total of one hundred and twenty-six (126) Lecturers and Teaching Assistants and two thousand, seven hundred and forty-six (2,746) students (both undergraduate and the postgraduate students) registered and participated in the eLearning activities.
Teaching, the conduct of Mid-Semester, and End of Semester Examinations across the entire University were organized on the Moodle (E-learning) Platform.
To improve the system further, the University has taken steps to upgrade its internet connectivity through the Ghanaian Academic and Research Network (GARNET) Project. This project when completed will provide the University with better and hopefully affordable internet services
New Programmes
The President of PUCG disclosed that the University has received accreditation from the National Accreditation Board to run the MPhil in Educational Studies. This will provide a top up to all our numerous graduates from the M.Ed Educational Studies programme.
The University is awaiting accreditation approval for the Master of Public Health (MPH) and B.Sc. Midwifery programmes. These programmes are affiliated to University of Development Studies (UDS).
Appreciation
Rev. Prof. Adow Obeng expressed appreciation to the Government of Ghana for its support to the PUCG during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Government supplied the University with over 3,000 nose masks, for staff and students.
In addition, the Government provided the University with 896 pieces of Adonko hand sanitizers. In preparation towards the reopening of the 2020/2021 Academic Year, the Government in September, supplied PUCG with 4,530 pieces of Adepa Jumbo Tissue, 189 gallons of liquid soap and additional 7,611 pieces of nose masks.
Advice to the Graduating Students
“I enjoin you to make conscious effort to make an impact wherever you find yourself, depending on the values of Honesty, Hard Work, Truth, Commitment, Excellence, Humility, Integrity, Faith in God which we have tried to inculcate in you through the spiritual exercises and courses you have been exposed to.