18th Matriculation Speech
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4889″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT, GTUC, DR. OSEI K. DARKWA ON THE OCCASION OF THE 18TH MATRICULATION CEREMONY OF THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE HELD ON SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2016
Members of GTUC Council present
Acting Registrar
Heads of Faculty
GTUC Faculty and Staff present,
Distinguished Guests,
Parents, Guardians, and Friends of our Matriculants,
Members of the Press, and most of all
Our dear Matriculants
On behalf of the University’s Council, Management and the Academic Board, I extend a very warm welcome to all our distinguished guests. I am particularly happy to welcome this year’s students who constitute the first intake of students for the 2015/2016 academic year. I extend a special welcome to you to Ghana Technology University College (GTUC).
To you, freshmen and women, I say congratulations for sailing through our competitive admission procedures. I also salute you for choosing to come to GTUC. GTUC is an institution built on years of hard work, excellence and dedication and you must be proud of your choice. You constitute the nucleus to drive the development of our dear nation. It is you who make the education sector thrive.
This ceremony, as mentioned enables you to take the matriculation oath that signifies your formal admission into the University College. The oath enjoins you to be of good behaviour and obedient to the rules and regulations of the University College and all constituted authority while you remain students of this Institution.
You need to see yourselves as very fortunate in getting to this stage of your academic life. There are many others who though qualified could not get in. Make maximum use of this opportunity given to you and do not waste it. Take this ceremony and the advice you are given seriously. They can help shape your life in the University College and for your future professional development.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, the socio-economic development of the country depends on a formidable team of human resource, professionals, specialists, scientists and technicians capable of transforming the development landscape of the country and moving it to a middle-income status.
However, information available indicates that less than 10% of the population has professional and technical qualifications while less than 1% are in administrative and managerial positions. The bulk of the people are in services and agriculture. About 60% of the economically active population depends on subsistence agriculture and only 13% are in industry. This situation needs to be improved a thousand times if the country is to grow economically. The key is Education.
The more educated citizens a country has, the better chance it has in transforming knowledge and assets into productive livelihoods, which provide the basic needs of food, shelter, health and freedom from ignorance. Educated people tend to be more productive and are better able to play constructive and informed roles in civil society.
GTUC has made some significant strides over the last couple of years in the delivery of quality technology education. To this end, the university college is pursuing its focus for the year 2015 as outlined in my speech at our breakfast meeting in January. Some of the priority areas are but not limited to the following:
- Physical and infrastructural expansion
- Consolidation existing partnerships and establishing new ones
- Promoting research and scholarship
- Promoting online or virtual education
- Embarking on University Automation
- Fundraising to support programmes and projects
- Instituting the President’s Scholarship for need but brilliant students
All of these interventions I trust will enhance our service delivery and make GTUC a better option for quality tertiary education.
To our newly admitted foreign students, we know you’ve come from different countries and different cultures into an entirely new environment. Feel free, we are ready to help you make the best of your stay here at GTUC, get involved and fraternize.
The bold step taken to leave your countries and everything else to start something most people would not dare to attempt is worthwhile. Making such a decision and following through on it usually requires courage, diligence, and self-confidence. Therefore, you should have the potential to deal successfully with the challenges your new life in Ghana. We are here to assist you to succeed.
Matriculants’ academic work will be rigorous, but this is proper preparation for the tasks that await all of you in the wider world.
Martin Luther Kings Jr. once said, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. We want you to be critical thinkers at GTUC. We want you to be creative and innovative at GTUC. We want you to be big dreamers at GTTUC. We want the next big thing to come from GTUC. And, we will provide you with the tools to enable you achieve this vision.
Matriculants, the first group of students who were admitted to this university entered their names in a registry of students. Today, you join this company of scholars as you too, enter your names into the university’s register. It is a register of those who have come here to plumb the depths of knowledge and to add on to the ever-expanding understanding of our world and our lives.
Members of the Class of 2017 and 2019, your time has come. The next time you assemble together here, it will be for your graduation or commencement. On that day, we will usher you into the world to make a difference.
I hope that you find your experience over these next months and years challenging and rewarding. Please know that we are here to serve you.
Welcome and congratulations!
Best wishes to you all.
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