The Convocation Meeting for the Vice Chancellor’s State of the University Address has been held at the Great Hall, KNUST.The meeting was attended by members of Convocation which consists of all academic and administrative senior members of staff. The Vice- Chancellor, Prof. K.K Adarkwa briefed members of Convocation on the activities of the university in the year 2009.
The Vice Chancellor briefed members on the numerical strength of the University. He said KNUST has a student population of about 25,774 of which about thirty percent are foreign students. On the teaching staff, KNUST has 21 professors, 54 associate professors, 158 senior lecturers and 483 lecturers. Again, KNUST currently has 2,374 supporting staff which consists of 1,561 junior staff and 813 senior staff, he continued.
On the University ranking he said, KNUST emerged twentieth in the webometrics ranking of top hundred universities in Africa and the number one university in Ghana. The Criteria for the ranking was the quality of education, internationalization, research output, impact and prestige.
The Vice Chancellor stated that the University’s Human Resource Development involves hiring, training or development and retiring of staff. As such, the University was able to recruit 21 members to senior positions in the various faculties, 9 non-teaching positions were filled and 19 junior staff encumbered. Prof. K.K. Adarkwa also noted that the university organizes periodic capacity building courses to enhance the performance of the workers of the University.
He said Still 21 lecturers have been promoted to senior lecturers, 7 senior lecturers to associate professors and 4 associate professors to professors during the year under review.
The Vice Chancellor has approved of increment, of forty percent of one’s basic salary in lieu of University accommodation for workers. On utilities, he said 75 high powered high mounted street lights were installed at various routes on campus.
On power supply, Prof. Adarkwa noted that the University’s wiring arrangements done over 40 years ago for the halls cannot cope with the present power demands by the ever increasing student population. It has therefore become necessary to rewire all halls starting with the Unity Hall, he added.
On water, the Vice Chancellor told Convocation that recent shortage of water on KNUST campus was not as a result of internal factors but a careful programme by the Ghana Water Company due to rehabilitation works at the Owabi and Barekese Dams.
He disclosed that to minimize water problems in the University community a 50,000 gallon water tank has been installed and is currently in use.
He said, the Institute of Distance learning from a humble commencement with 16 students in 1998 currently has 2,298 students and its programmes are well patronized. The Vice Chancellor noted that the institute plans to organize part time and top-up programmes in the near future. The Institute of Distance learning has its presence in all regional capitals with the exception of Cape Coast, WA and Bolgatanga.
The Institute also has plans to run new programmes in addition to the existing ones. Again, it will soon be considering the development of our Nhyiaeso properties into the Kumasi City Campus.
On the University’s finances, the Vice Chancellor noted that total public funding for KNUST is seventy three percent with the remaining twenty seven percent from internally generated funds. Again subventions for the payment of salaries have been received up to January, 2010. He said subventions are not received on time and that KNUST had to borrow from banks at high interest rates in order to be able to pay the salaries of its workers.
The annual staff medical screening exercise could not come off last year and the Vice Chancellor promised that it would soon take off. He noted that the introduction of the specialized clinics namely, the Hypertension,Diabetes,Eye,Infectious Disease and Dental Clinics at the KNUST Hospital have experienced phenomenal increases in patronage.
The Vice Chancellor was not happy about the congestion at the KNUST Hospital and said it is in that vein that work has begun on the 24 semi private wards and rooms. Again, a major challenge facing the KNUST Hospital is the indebtedness of the National Health Insurance Scheme, (NHIS)to the Hospital, to the tune of 976,185.31 Ghana Cedis.
On security, he said the University has enjoyed a relatively calm and peaceful atmosphere in the year under review. However, a major security challenge is stealing of valuables in the various student halls of residence both on campus and outside. To beef up the security, additional 50 security personnel were recruited and trained to augment the strength of the security force on campus.
On the University Library, he said a total number of 106,504 books are currently in stock at the library. Out of this number, 19,271 titles have been entered into the library’s database and are ready for online searching. Also the “KNUSTSPACE” has successfully taken off comprising captured theses, abstracts, full texts, journals among others. The introduction of the “KNUSTSPACE” would ensure wider access, visibility, public value, showcase the quality of scientific, social and economic relevance of the University’s research, and also harness improved impact of research output and opportunity to attract local and international research funding.
The Vice Chancellor informed Convocation that his tenure as a vice chancellor ends on 30th September, 2010. He said so far only eleven applications have been received. He said “a lot has happened during the previous years, currently a lot is going on and hoped that a lot more would happen in future for KNUST to maintain its enviable position in Ghana”.
