JAPANESE AMBASSADOR PAYS COURTESY CALL ON UDS MANAGEMENT

The Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Naoto Nikai, has paid a courtesy on the management of the University for Development Studies (UDS), promising his country would continue to extend support to the health, education and agricultural sector of the country’s economy.

H.E Naoto Nikae, Japanese Ambassador to Ghana

He said the Japanese Government was very much aware of the challenges facing Ghana particularly the Northern part of the country in the areas of health, education and most especially food security, hinting that there would be more effective collaboration between Ghana and his country in those areas.

Bilateral relations between Japan and Ghana could be traced to the 1920s when Dr. Hideyo Noguchi visited Ghana to conduct research into Yellow fever. Formal diplomatic relations between Japan and Ghana had existed for more than 50 years leading to strong relations between the two countries.

Thus, Ambassador Nikai’s visit to the UDS was intended to deepen relationship between UDS and Japan. UDS had been collaborating with some Japanese state institutions such as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and others that operated both locally and internationally on a 5 year project on disaster and risk management in agriculture.

His meeting with the UDS management thus brought together all Deans and Directors of the University to give brief presentations on the various academic programmes that the University runs so as to find out areas the university and the Japanese Government could further work together. 

He urged the management of UDS to encourage its students to take advantage of post graduate and undergraduate scholarship programmes that had been made available by the Japanese Government to students in Africa including Ghana.

Besides, Ambassador Nikai was happy of the collaboration between the nation’s premier university, University of Ghana – and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Accra, adding that a similar partnership had enabled students in Ghana to study at the Tokyo Medical and Dental School in Japan and that it was yielding positive results.

The Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies, Professor David Millar, who chaired the meeting, appealed to the Japanese Ambassador and his country’s leadership to call for certain amendments on the strategies being adopted by the recent G8 Summit in New York to fight hunger in Africa.

According to Professor Millar, the strategies adopted by members of the G8 – France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada and Russia were mainly focus on commercial agriculture which he observed was not the best solution to food security in Africa. He explained that most farmers on the continent were smallholder or peasant farmers who only farm to feed themselves and their families, thus it would be prudent if much attention was focused in that area.

Established in May 1992 by the Government of Ghana, the UDS exist to blend the academic world with that of the community in order to provide constructive interaction between the two for the total development of Northern Ghana, in particular, and the country as a whole. 

The University was borne out of the new thinking in higher education which emphasizes the need for universities to play a more active role in addressing problems of the society, particularly in the rural areas. The UDS by its mandate and constituency has a pro-poor focus. This is reflected in its methodology of teaching, research and outreach services. The specific emphasis on practically-oriented research and field-based training is aimed at contributing towards poverty reduction in order to accelerate national development. 

It began academic work in September 1993 with the admission of thirty-nine (39) students into the Faculty of Agriculture, (FOA), Nyankpala campus. The Faculty of Integrated Development Studies, (FIDS), Faculty of Planning and Land Management (FPLM) and Faculty of Education (FOE), Wa, School of Business, Wa, School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), Tamale, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources (FRNR), Nyankpala, Faculty of Applied Sciences (FAS), Faculty of Mathematical Sciences (FMS), Navrongo and the Graduate School now in Tamale were phased in from 1994 to date.

UDS is unique compared to other public universities considering its location and multi campuses which are spread out in rural Northern Ghana where the incidence and depth of poverty is high. Its vision is pro-poor aimed at addressing the conditions and structural causes of poverty. The UDS has four (4) campuses, seven (7) Faculties, a Business School, one Medical School, one Graduate School and three (3) centers. Several programs are run at these places. 

The UDS also runs a community-technical interface programme. This is a combination of the academic and community-based field practical work known as the Third Trimester Field Practical Programme (TTFPP).