The School of Business of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), has presented educational books and certificates to 186 high-performing students with a CGPA of 3.6 and above during its 2021 Deans Awards Ceremony.

The Chairman for the occasion, Prof. Francis Eric Amuquandoh, Provost of the College of Humanities and Legal Studies, indicated that learning was a difficult task, therefore, students who had excelled academically especially during the Covid-19 pandemic deserved to be celebrated.

He congratulated the students and encouraged them to continue to work hard to maintain or improve their current CGPA. He also commended the Dean, faculty and staff of the school for their hard work, dedication and commitment saying, “The joy and duty of our profession is to see our students excel”.

The Dean of the School of Business, Prof. John G. Gatsi, explained that the Deans Awards ceremony is an important event on the calendar of the School of Business. He explained that apart from the awards program, students who obtained a CGPA of 2.0-grade point and below had been assigned to their Heads of Department to receive counseling to encourage them to improve their grades.

Prof. Gatsi noted that students and alumni of the school were contributing and influencing governance, policy making, entrepreneurship, and innovation in Ghana and beyond. “Our lecturers, administrative staff, and students are always motivated by our core values of reliability, integrity, good governance, honesty, and teamwork,” he said.

The guest speaker for the event, Mr. Alhassan Trawule, the Head of Research Unit at the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG), in his speech on “How to achieve and sustain academic excellence in a pandemic”, shared his personal experiences as a first-class student of the UCC School of Business. He explained that there was the need to always see the awards ceremony as a motivator.

He said, “Academic excellence has been identified with achieving high grades and superior performances, but it is more than just making good grades. It is the maximum development of one' s intellectual skills and capabilities.”

The Dean’s Award ceremony was also attended by faculty, staff and students of the University.