PADA Holds an Interaction Session for Doctoral Students

Dr. Jemima Akosua Asabea Anderson, Director of UG-PADA

The University of Ghana Pan-African Doctoral Academy (UG-PADA) has hosted an interaction session for all registered UG Ph.D. students, to educate them on how PADA can positively impact their academic journey.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Jemima Akosua Asabea Anderson, Director of UG-PADA, recalled that prior to 2015, when PADA was established, completing a Ph.D. programme at the University was difficult due to a lack of preparation and available resources, which prevented students from completing the programme on time.

She stated that the story about Ph.D. training at the University has changed since the Academy's inception in 2015, under the leadership of Professor Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu, because more PhD candidates who have enrolled on the Ph.D. programme over the years have been able to complete their programmes within the stipulated time of four years.

She explained that the event offered an opportunity to interact with Ph.D. students in order to make them aware of some UG-PADA resources and services designed to accelerate their academic journey.

According to Dr. Anderson, the main goal of UG-PADA is to help doctoral students with their training by exposing them to skills that are important for their academic profile and career progression. She informed the students that UG-PADA holds two schools each year, with various modules and a monthly mentor series designed to prepare doctoral students for their various doctorate courses. She, therefore, urged the doctoral students to take advantage of the Academy’s resources to expedite their Ph.D. programmes.

In his remarks, Prof. Samuel Agyei-Mensah, former Provost of the College of Humanities and currently Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI), commended the Management of UG-PADA for providing an enabling environment, facilities and grants for the Ph.D. process. He stressed that a Ph.D. changes an individual's entire personality, hence, doctoral students must work hard to obtain their doctorate degrees, which will be extremely beneficial to their careers in the long run.

He shared with the doctoral students, strategies and experiences that they could adopt to improve their efficiency in achieving academic excellence throughout their academic journey.

Prof. Samuel Agyei-Mensah

Prof. Samuel Agyei-Mensah also touched on the significance of supervisors and doctoral students working together to ensure the smooth progression of their dissertations and encouraged supervisors to use their network to explore opportunities for their students.

Past students who have benefitted from UG-PADA's resources were present to share their success stories.

 

Q&A session

A Q&A session was also held, as well as a tour of the PADA building.

Present at the event were Dr. Collins Agyemang Badu, Co-ordinator, UG-PADA and Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychology; graduate students and Doctoral students of the University of Ghana.

A group picture of Participants