2022 marks a major milestone in the University of Ghana Business School’s (UGBS) history - 60 years of transforming ordinary people into high achieving global business leaders.
The UGBS 60th Anniversary celebrations will be marked with a variety of events and projects throughout the year including UGBS Alumni week, Family Fun Day, Awards Night and the dedication of a memorial square in honour of Prof. S. A. Nkrumah, a former Director of School of Administration (now UGBS).
Performing the official launch of the UGBS at 60 celebrations, His Excellency Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President of the Republic, represented the H. E. the President to deliver the keynote address for the occasion.
H.E. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, seized the opportunity to celebrate the first Council of the University of Ghana Business School. He urged UGBS to continue to lead in management studies by fully embracing technology to expose students to 21st Century critical thinking and problem-solving skills, entrepreneurship, collaboration, initiative, agility and adaptability. “UGBS has the wherewithal to develop the necessary flair for setting the pace”, Dr. Bawumia said.
In the area of research, the Vice President urged the country’s premier Business School to adopt the triple helix model to set the interaction between academia and industry/government to foster economic and social development. He also indicated government’s readiness to welcome development related proposals.
“Your illustrious and celebrated alumni around the world must be proud of your achievements and I call on all of them to support endowment and scholarships for the needy students as well as other developmental projects the School is embarking on to create a more conducive environment for your current and future students”, H.E. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia stated.
Taking his turn, the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, congratulated UGBS on its stellar achievement. “These are exciting times because the pandemic has given us an opportunity to innovate. This is the time for our schools to teach lean management and all the things that make organisations work in the middle of crises, so that the innovative strategies and the approaches you bring to bear on the education of the people who come to you will go a long way in helping to redefine the storyline of the future of our nation”.
The Chair for the anniversary launch, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, Vice-Chancellor, was represented by Prof. Felix Asante, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Development. Prof. Asante touched on the unique elements of UGBS in the subregion; a trait which, according to him, was the reason for the many business and management executives trained by the School. Prof. Asante noted that UGBS holds great promise to the University and the nation. He anticipated that in the nearest future, UGBS will emerge as an icon in the world of management education. The Pro Vice-Chancellor added that “it is an undisputed fact that the UGBS remains the institution of choice for those seeking prime business education for careers in industry, government and academia”. He charged the leadership of the School to take stock of their journey and implement the necessary measures to continue to stay at the top.
Earlier, in his welcome remarks, the Dean of UGBS, Prof. Justice Bawole, recounted the modest beginnings of the School. He paid tribute to the gallant leaders who sacrificed for the growth of the School, particularly, those who served as Deans and Directors. “Like the unknown scholar statue in the middle of the foyer of this building, many have laboured and given honour to the unlearned who came to UGBS and left refined and poised to contribute to national development, but who were not honoured themselves. Therefore, allow me to honour those people and celebrate them”, Prof. Bawole opined.
The Dean also appealed to the government to support the UGBS with the construction of an ultra-modern innovation and incubation centre, to be named, the Akufo-Addo Presidential Centre for Innovation and Business Leadership.
Following from the UGBS Laptop Award Ceremony and Launch of One-Student-One-Laptop Initiative early this year, H.E. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia redeemed his pledge to donate 100 laptops to the School during the launch of the UGBS 60th Anniversary celebrations. The Veep further promised to make time to join in the year-long celebrations and present the Dean’s innovation and incubation centre request to the President of the Republic.
Prof. Justice Bawole receiving the laptops on behalf of the Business School
The Ghana Dance Ensemble performed cultural dances to the delight of the audience and Dr. Vera Fiador, a Senior Lecturer at UGBS and Chairperson of the Anniversary Planning Committee moved the vote of thanks.
Present at the ceremony were Mrs. Emelia Agyei-Mensah, Registrar; Prof. Daniel Frimpong Ofori, Provost, College of Humanities; Professor Boateng Onwona-Agyeman, Provost, CBAS, Professor Akilagpa Sawyer, former Vice-Chancellor; Deans, Directors, Heads of Department and Administrators.
The rest were Dr. Emmanuel Adu-Sarkodee, Group Chairman, Phoenix Insurance Ltd; representatives of Mendel University School of Business, Czech Republic; Corporate Ghana, UGBS alumni, members of the University community, friends of the University and the media fraternity.
