Two officials from the San Diego State University have called on the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah at the Council Chamber, South Campus.

The two officials were the Director, Division of Research Affairs, Prof. Dena Plemmons, and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, Dr. Estralita Martin.

Explaining the purpose for the visit, the Head of the Department of Community Medicine, Dr. Sebastian Eliason, said the two officials would want to collaborate with UCC School of Medical Sciences (UCCSMS) to send their students to undertake research in Public Health in Ghana. He indicated UCCSMS through the Community Based Experience Service (COBES) programme has a strong community orientation for its students adding that “the collaboration will help our students to also learn and share their experiences from the students from San Diego”.

On her part, Prof. Plemmons said San Diego had received a training grants through a project known as Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training Programme (MHRIT). She said the project supported specific Science Students to conduct research in developing countries.

Prof. Plemmons noted that the project was to help them gain experience in research and expose them to Public Health systems in other settings. “We intend to encourage them to pursue postgraduate studies with a strong research background,” she noted. She indicated that the students would spend 10 days conducting research on Public Health issues in Ghana and, therefore, called for the support of UCC to enable them send some students next year.

Responding, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, said it collaboration was important for the growth and development of universities. He said through the collaboration, the two universities could learn, share experiences and conduct joint research together. “No university is an Ivory Tower globally so there is the need to collaborate and learn best practice from others to continue to make your institution relevant,” he noted.

Prof. Ampiah said UCC was ready to partner San Diego University and was hopeful that the collaboration would be beneficial to both institutions. He was hopeful that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) would soon be signed to operationalize the collaboration.

Present at the meeting were the Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan; Ag. Director of Public Affairs, Major Kofi Baah-Bentum and Assistant Registrar at UCCSMS, Mr. Alexander Danso.