University Administrators asked to Strengthen Leadership

Dr. Paul Effah, President of the Radford University College, has asked university administrators to become more innovative in the areas of resource mobilization and management.

This, he indicated, was necessary to aid the smooth running of the institutions.

He was delivering a paper at a continuous professional development workshop at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.

The programme was organized by the Northern Sector branch of the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) under the theme “Modern trends in university administration and its impact on career development”.

It brought together members of the association from the KNUST, University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), University of Education, Winneba (UEW), University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) and the University of Development Studies (UDS).

The goal was to help them to efficiently perform to grow their institutions.

Dr. Effah reminded the administrators that their role was increasingly becoming more of problem-solving and therefore it was important they strengthened their leadership and managerial skills.

It was through this that they could assist the management of the universities to work within their policy direction.

He also encouraged them to be adept in Information Communication and Technology (ICT) and said that was vital for the job they had been doing and the interaction with corporate bodies.

He noted that Ghanaian universities were in competition with other international institutions, and for that matter they needed to come out with market-driven academic courses to make their products relevant to the needs of industry.

Dr. Agyenim Boateng, a Human Resource Development expert, urged university authorities to fashion out detailed scheme and schedule of work for their administrators so as to enable them to appreciate their terms of reference for increased productivity.

That, he said, was also essential to avoid overlapping of duties, which generated lots of conflicts amongst staff of the university.

Mr. Mathew Asare, National President of GAUA, underlined the determination of the leadership to champion the welfare of its members to optimally operate.

Source: GNA/www.newsghana.com.gh