Vice Chancellor's speech at Congregation

Address by the Vice Chancellor
Professor D. Mireku-Gyimah

Hon Minister of Education representing His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana
Honourable Ministers of State and Members of Parliament
Chairman and Members of the University Council

My Colleague Vice Chancellors of Sister Universities
Pro Vice Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellors of Sister Universities
Registrar and Registrars of Sister Universities
Finance Officer and Finance Officers of Sister Universities
Chairman and Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education
Chairman and Executive Secretary of the National Accreditation Board
Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Mines
Chief Executive Officers of the Mining, Petroleum and Allied Industries
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Omanhene and Nananom of Wassa Fiase Traditional Area
Omanhene and Nananom of Wassa Amenfi Traditional Area
Members of Convocation in loco parentis
Junior Members in statu pupillari
Alumni, Graduands and Parents
Priests and Imams
Members of the Press
Distinguished Invited Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is gratifying to see all of you gathered here this morning to participate in the 1st Congregation of the University of Mines and Technology affectionately called UMaT. Your presence is a manifestation of your interest in this young University and we are very grateful for this interest.

I particularly want to acknowledge the presence of the Hon Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tetteh-Enyo who is representing His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana. We are very privileged to have him as our special Guest of Honour.

I would also like to acknowledge the presence of the Omanhene of Wassa Fiase Traditional Area, Osagyefo Kwamena Enimil VI, and the Omanhene of Wassa Amenfi Traditional Area, Kasapreko Kwame Bassayin III who have shown extremely keen interest in the development of this University.

The presence of the following colleague Vice Chancellors gives me a sense of brotherhood, sisterhood and a warm companionship. They are:

Permit me also to acknowledge the presence of the following distinguished academics who have travelled from Nigeria and Australia purposefully to give us support and to strengthen the international collaboration between their respective Universities and this University. They are:

We also have Dr. Andrew Kudowor from the National Oilwell Varco, Texas, USA, who is here to give us support and to finalise arrangements for his company to support our new Petroleum Engineering programme.

On behalf of the University, and on my own behalf, I welcome all of you present here and I thank you for finding time, despite your heavy schedules of work, to come to participate in the 1st Congregation of this University.

Mr Chairman, my comprehensive report on the University and its activities is very long and it could be boring to listen to all of it at this ceremony. In order to save time and to spare everybody the boredom, the full report has been bound by the Audio-Visual Unit of the University into a book entitled, “The Vice Chancellor’s Report” which everybody can read in the comfort of his or her home. There are also two booklets entitled, “UMaT At a Glance” and “Basic Statistics” which together give a summary of the important information about the University. These three documents are available to the public. Anyone who has not got copies of the documents is encouraged to get copies from a desk at the forecourt of this auditorium at negligible cost. Alternatively, the documents can be assessed at the University’s website: www.umat.edu.gh.

However, because this is the 1st Congregation of the University and therefore the first time that the public has gathered to hear about the University, I feel obliged to highlight the following three points which are note-worthy and would be of interest to the general public:

Mr Chairman, on the genesis of this University and its role in national development, the following are the facts. This institution started as the Tarkwa Technical Institute in 1952 but was officially inaugurated in October 1953 by Sir Charles Arden Clarke, the Governor of the then Gold Coast. In 1960, it metamorphosed through the initiative of the Ghana Chamber of Mines to become the Tarkwa School of Mines. In 1976, it was affiliated to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) as a faculty of that University and given the name KNUST School of Mines. In 2001, it was re-organised to become the Western University College. Then on the 3rd of November, 2004, at exactly 11.30 GMT, this institution was by Act of Parliament (Act 677) established as the full-fledged University of Mines and Technology and empowered by law to award its own certificates, diplomas and degrees. Until this date, all fresh students of this institution were matriculated and all graduands were graduated by KNUST, our mother university. So, four years ago, that is in August, 2005, this University exercised its powers to matriculate its own fresh students. These are the students who have successfully completed their programmes of study and are graduating today. This explains why, in spite of the fact that this institution has been producing graduates since 1976, we are only now celebrating the 1st Congregation.

At this juncture, I would like to pay tribute to Mr J. E. Philpott (of blessed memory), Mr M. T. Kofi and Dr. J. K. Borsah, the past Principals of this institution as well as Prof. F. O. Kwami, Prof. J.S.K. Ayim and Prof. K.A. Andam (of blessed memory), past Vice Chancellors of KNUST who together cultivated a good academic culture in this institution, a solid academic culture that motivated the Government to issue a White Paper in 1986 to upgrade the status of this institution to that of a full-fledged University.

It is also fitting to pay tribute to the foundation Chairman and members of the University Council whose tireless efforts, dedication and passion for the development of this University have brought us this far. In particular, on behalf of the University, and on my own behalf, I would like to express our sincerest gratitude to Dr. Jean Nelson Aka, the foundation and past Chairman of Council, Mrs. Scholastica Mensah, Mr. Stephen Yirenkyi, Mr. Bernard Ekow Sam, Osagyefo Kwamena Enimil VI, Prof. Ivan Addae-Mensah, Dr. Emmanuel Baffour Boakye, Mr Christian Kwaku Amuzuvi, Prof. Djigbodi-Adjimah, Mr Iassac Quist and Mr James Kenneth Otoo, foundation and past members of Council. May God bless them all.

Mr. Chairman, the mission of the University is to:

We can summarise this mission to be a mandate to train professionals capable of finding and extracting minerals, oil and gas from the earth’s crust and processing them into useful products for the development of the country.

If we take into consideration the fact that this University is the only University of Mines and Technology in the West African sub-region, then it becomes clear that our mandate goes beyond our country to the West African sub-region and to the whole of Africa.

Consequently, we have set our vision to become a Centre of Excellence in Ghana and Africa for conducting cutting-edge research and for producing world-class professionals for the mining, petroleum and related industries.

Our strategic location on one of the prominent gold belts in Ghana with a fascinating geological setting, the proximity of operating mining companies and the new oil find and our dedicated capable staff combine to give us a unique strength to give our students practical engineering training. No wonder, for a third of a century, we have been training engineers of proven ability for the mining and related industries in Ghana and abroad.

Of the various researches being carried out in the University, I would like to note that this year Prof. Richard Kwasi Amankwah and Prof. Sulemana Al-Hassan have completed the design of a non-mercury gold recovery process for small scale miners. By the end of the year, Prof. Newton Amegbey will complete setting the national blasting standards that would prevent damage to buildings and infrastructural facilities. The design for the construction of wetlands to control acid mine drainage by Prof. Jerry Samuel Kuma is far advanced and Mrs Patricia Beatrice Mireku-Gyimah has completed her analysis of the errors in the English of our students and provided remedial measures to correct the errors. I salute these academics.

Mr. Chairman, the importance of this University in national development cannot be overemphasized. It is well established that development and civilization are directly dependant on the products of mining. As was clearly illustrated by the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines at the inauguration of the Chamber’s 80th Anniversary, every human activity uses tools which are products of mining. We build our houses, make our farms, construct our roads, dams and factories using equipment made of metals and materials which are products of mining. We travel by road in vehicles, by sea in boats and ships and by air in airplanes, all of which are made of metals and materials which are products of mining. Our medical officers diagnose our diseases and operate on us using sophisticated equipment made of metals and materials which are products of mining. We prepare our food, medicines, cosmetics, detergents and everything using tools and materials made of the products of mining. The conclusion is that without mining there can be no development. This is the main reason why any nation that has mineral resources is considered to be potentially rich.

Ghana is therefore potentially rich because she is endowed with abundant mineral resources. So far, we have been exploiting mainly gold, diamond, bauxite and manganese and to some limited extent salt, sand and gravel. But we also have iron, casseterite, asbestos, limestone, marble, andalusite, barite, mica, talc, silica, garnet, felspar, sandstone, beryl, columbite, lithium, monazite, copper and kaoline and we have oil and gas all of which are yet to be exploited. Our challenge is how to use the correct mining and processing methods to exploit these minerals in an environmentally friendly manner so that we can prevent or minimize environmental damage and maximize the socio-economic benefits of mining, so that we use the products of mining to develop our country into the middle income nation that we all dream about. The resolution of this challenge is clearly subsumed in the mandate of this University, a mandate which underscores its role in national development. The direct logical inference is that if we need to develop our country to become an industrialised nation, then we need to develop this University and we need to resource it amply so that it can carry out its mandate effectively.

Mr. Chairman, on the second point, that is the current focus and the future plans of the University, the following are the facts. Currently, the University has only two academic faculties, the Faculty of Mineral Resources Technology and the Faculty of Engineering. Under the Faculty of Mineral Resources Technology, we have five academic departments all of which offer 4-year Bachelor of Science degree programmes. These are the Department of Geomatic Engineering, Department of Geological Engineering, Department of Mining Engineering, Department of Mineral Engineering and the new Department of Petroleum Engineering. Under the Faculty of Engineering, we have four academic departments of all which also offer 4-year Bachelor of Science degree programmes. These are the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Department of Mathematics and the new Department of Computer Science and Engineering. We also have the Languages Section that operates under the Faculty of Mineral Resources Technology. And we have the School of Postgraduate Studies which coordinates all postgraduate programmes in the University. The Registry, the Finance Office, the Library, the Clinic, the Building and Maintenance Unit, the Transport Unit, the UMaT Basic School, the Security Unit and the Hall Council constitute part of the University’s operational setup.
As can be seen, everything we do in this University is engineering. Our current focus is therefore to get well-equipped laboratories, workshops, lecture halls, and student hostels so that our students can learn properly. We are also focused on the construction of our road network and staff houses and the provision of ICT facilities and fire protection system. The provision of laboratory for the new Petroleum Engineering programme is a special case that must be solved now.

Altogether, we have 1 251 students out of which 168 are postgraduates; we have 60 academic staff made up of 3 Professors, 6 Associate Professors, 10 Senior Lecturers and 39 Lecturers, and we have 275 supporting staff out of which 10 are Senior Members.

Our medium-term focus is guided by our obligation and moral duty to provide quality education and ensure cost-effective management of the University. At the moment, the ratio of students to academic staff is 21:1 and the ratio of academic staff to supporting staff is 1:5.

My studies on the current operational modalities of the University show that the supporting workforce of 275 is about what is required to operate effectively, whether we decrease or increase the student number. In order to benefit from the economies of scale, therefore, it is only logical that we keep the supporting workforce number at the current 275 and increase the number of students and academic staff. The best way to do this is to increase the number of academic staff from the current 60 to 275 to equal the number of supporting staff. Then the number of students can easily be determined since the recommended ratio of engineering students to academic staff is known to be 18:1. A simple arithmetic gives the student number to be 5 000.

What I am simply saying, Mr. Chairman, is that in order to benefit from the economies of scale and to satisfy the norms for quality assurance, we need to be increasing the number of academic staff from the current 60 to 275 as the student number increases from the current 1 251 to 5 000 while we keep the number of supporting staff at the current 275.

In the medium term, therefore, we are focused on the provision of more lecture halls, laboratories, student hostels and staff houses that can accommodate 5 000 students and 275 academic staff. This will also permit us to mount other engineering programmes which we consider vital for national development and which are stipulated in our strategic plan SPLAN2K14. We are determined to mount programmes in civil engineering, wind energy engineering, solar energy engineering and biomass energy engineering.

A question that keeps coming to us is whether or not we have the land for expansion. I think this is the time to bring to the notice of the general public that the Wassa Fiase Traditional Council has donated a 26-square kilometer land for the development of the new campus of the University. And here, I would like to pay tribute to Osagyefo Kwamena Enimil VI, the Omanhene of the Wassa Fiase Traditional Area through whose initiative this vast land was donated. On behalf of the University and on my own behalf, I would like to express our sincerest appreciation for this kind donation. Osagyefo, may God bless you.

The public may also want to know that the Omanhene of Wassa Amenfi Traditional Area, Kasapreko Kwame Bassanyin III, has also confirmed his promise to donate a 20-square kilometer land at Wassa Akropong to this University. The plan to acquire the land has already started. Can you imagine a Modern College of Agricultural Engineering and Food Processing Technology on this fertile land? Can you imagine a Modern College of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine on this fertile land? And can you imagine a Modern College of Rubber and Bamboo Processing and Paper Production Technology on this fertile land? Oh yes, I can see limitless possibilities for science and technology education on this fertile land. On behalf of the University, and on my own behalf, I wish to express our sincerest appreciation for this promise. Kasapreko, may God bless you.

Having secured such vast land, the focus of this University in the long term is to build the new campus. Indeed, let me say that the physical model of the new campus has already been designed by the renowned Architect, Mr. Bernard Ekow Sam, a past member of the University Council. Having visited all the universities in Ghana and several universities abroad and having studied the land use and architectural short comings of these universities, Mr. Ekow Sam has designed the University to be one of the best in the world. For the records, let me note that Mr. Bernard Ekow Sam built this model free of charge. On behalf of the University and on my own behalf, I wish to express our profound gratitude for the marvelous job he has done. Uncle Sam, may God bless you.

Hon Minister of Education, it is now clear that this University has the people, the industry, the land and all that are required to be developed into a formidable University that can support the science and technology agenda of the country. Rather than boring the general public of all that we want you to convey to the President to do for this University, we have, on the instruction of our newly constituted dynamic council under the able Chairmanship of Prof Bruce Banoeng-Yakubo, presented all our needs in a small report for you to convey to the President. We are very hopeful that you and the President will study the report and favourably answer our call to you and the President to take up the development of this University with dispatch. May God bless you and the President for the hope that you give us.

Mr. Chairman, on my last point – that is our granduands, their worth and responsibility, the following are the facts. On this occasion of the 1st Congregation of the University, a total of 231 students are graduating. Out of these, 34 are to be awarded Master of Science or Master of Philosophy degrees in their respective engineering programmes of study. The remaining 197 are to be awarded Bachelor of Science degrees in their respective engineering programmes of study, 31 of them being in the first class division.

A highlight of this ceremony is the award of Doctor of Philosophy degrees (honoris causa) to five deserving distinguished personalities. The selection of these personalities has gone through the due rigorous processes of the University. By all standards, these personalities were found to have satisfied all the criteria and therefore deserve the awards. I salute and congratulate the awardees for their achievements.

Mr. Chairman, the students who are graduating today are a special breed of engineers. These are graduands who had to forgo the niceties of city life and the fantasy of funny clothes that students are so fond of these days. These are graduands who had to acquire their own engineering drawing boards, protective clothing and basic tools like: geological hammers, lenses, avometers, measuring tapes, test tubes and reagents for their laboratory and field work.

These are graduands who had to defy the notorious Tarkwa rains to do their field work. These are graduands who had to pay for numerous field trips to get exposure to their professional work.

Apart from their respective hardcore engineering disciplines, they all had to learn the law of contract and torts, business entrepreneurship, economic development planning, public relations, communication skills and computer applications. Contrary to the general opinion that graduates of these days are unable to express themselves, these graduands have good communication skills and when it comes to computers they are simply wizards and witches.

By all standards, these graduands are good engineers, well prepared to enter the world of work to start their careers. No wonder, employers are impatiently waiting to whisk most of them away. And Professor Jonas Addai-Mensah from the University of South Australia, who is here with us, is anxiously waiting to select some of the first class graduands and fly away with them to the University of South Australia for them to pursue special postgraduate programmes and come back after studies to join the academic staff of this University.

By a special arrangement put in place by the Vice Chancellor of this University, my good self, and the Vice Chancellor of the University of South Australia, as part of our collaboration, the annual tuition fee of AU$25 000 for each of the selected students will be waived.

In these times when we hear about unemployment among graduates, I am proud to be the Vice Chancellor of a University whose graduates find employment readily.

And now, to our dear graduands. You have satisfied all the requirements of the University; you have passed all your examinations, you do not owe any fees and you have cleared yourselves of all University properties in your care. Honestly, you deserve congratulations and so I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart. Having come this far, you are indeed justified to be proud and happy today. I urge all of you to take photographs of yourselves to see how beautiful or handsome you are. You are also privileged to be the first recipients of the certificates of the University because these certificates are special and unique.

First, the certificates have five security features. One of the security features is a blue spot at the top left corner of the back page. When you press this blue spot with your thumb for a minute and remove it, the blue spot will vanish but will appear again after one minute. Of the remaining four security features I shall say nothing. Because of the security features, you are advised not to laminate your certificates or subject them to excessive heat. Do not attempt to change anything on the certificates because if you do so we shall know.

Second, those of you who will be awarded bachelor’s degrees will find their certificates bronze rimmed; those who will be awarded master’s degrees will find their certificates silver rimmed, and those who will be awarded doctorate degrees will find their certificates gold rimmed. These features are to remind you that they are certificates of the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, where we deal with metals such as bronze, silver and gold.

Third, the name of this University and the signature on the certificate are in green colour and the certificate will be presented to you in a green tube. The green colour symbolizes the green light given to you to enter the world of work and it is to remind you that you should protect the environment at all times. Indeed the fact that the certificates are signed by your Vice Chancellor, my good self, who is the first Professor of Mining Engineering in the West African sub region, should give you solid confidence to enter the world of work.

As ambassadors of this University, please note that you are our twinkle, twinkle little stars in whose capability we so much believe. Indeed, you have become so good that we even begin to wonder what you are. As you enter the world of work remember to uphold our core values, which are knowledge, truth and excellence.

May the good Lord guide and protect you. May he pour his blessings upon you. May he give you fortified wings to overcome any difficulties and fly very very high to shine like diamonds in the sky.

I thank all of you for your attention and May God bless us all.