The University of Cape Coast and three other Universities have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Strasbourg in France on the Inter-University Conference for Doctoral Studies in French (ICDS).
The other three Universities are the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah and the University of Education, Winneba. The MoU which is the second to be signed by the two partners after the first agreement expired in 2013 would help to strengthen the collaborative work between lecturers and researchers of the Ghanaian Universities and their counterparts from the University of Strasbourg for effective training and mentoring of
Ghanaian students who register for doctoral studies in French.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. John Nelson Buah expressed gratitude to the University of Strasbourg, French Embassy and the initiators of the programme for their foresight. He described the partnership as a step in the right direction since it involved four Universities in Ghana who had teamed up to upgrade their lecturers and also promote teaching and learning of the French Language. He noted that Ghana has no excuse since it shared border with three Francophone Countries adding that “Ghanaian must begin to take the French language very serious.”
On his part, the Vice-President of Strasbourg University, Prof. Francis Kern noted that he personally came to Ghana to witness the signing of the MoU due to the importance the University attached to the ICDS. He expressed the hope that the agreement would go beyond the study of French to other disciplines.
Giving a historic background of the ICDS, the Coordinator, Dr. Anthony De-Souza noted that the programme started in 2006 when four public Universities namely, UCC, UG, KNUST and UEW saw the need to develop a joint programme aimed at upgrading the training of their lecturers and researchers by promoting relevant scientific or pedagogical activities in doctoral studies in French. He explained that with financial support of the French Embassy in Ghana, the first Inter-University Conference for Doctoral Studies in French was held at UEW in 2009 with participants from Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin to deliberate and conceptualise a framework for training doctoral studies in French.
Dr. De-Souza pointed out that the first MoU which was signed in 2009 and expired in 2013 saw the successful organisation of nine Inter-University Conferences in the partner universities. It also led to the facilitation of linkages with the University of Strasbourg, University of Bourgogne, University of Montpellier and Univerisitѐ all in France.
He added that the new agreement would also help to promote collaborative work between students, researchers and lecturers of Ghana and their French counterparts and also create access to a multidisciplinary documentation, particularly in France.
Present at the ceremony were the Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan; Dean, Faculty of Arts, Prof. Dora Edu-Buandoh; Dean, School of Graduate Studies; Head, Department of French, Prof. Edoh Torgah as well as some lecturers and postgraduate students.
Dr. Speaking at the signing of the MoU which was facilitated by the French Embassy in Ghana, the Coordinator of the ICDS,
Others were the Director of Inter-University Conference for Doctoral Studies in French Prof. Jean-Paul Meyer and Attaché in charge of French at the French Embassy, Dr. Anne-Marie Coquelin, French Embassy in Ghana.
source:ucc.edu.gh
