General News of Thursday, 17 May 2018
Source: Ghananewsagency.org
2018-05-17
The sod cutting ceremony for the centre
The French Learning Centre (FLC) of Wa campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) has inaugurated a Multi-Media Centre to improve the teaching and learning of French.
The Centre which contains a wide range of teaching and learning materials was established at the cost of 15,000 Euros, provided by the French Embassy in Ghana.
Speaking during the inauguration, Professor Sylvester Galaa, the Acting Principal of the Wa Campus of UDS, said the University was established in 1992 with a philosophy of providing relevant tertiary education in Ghana.
In furtherance of this philosophy, he said, UDS introduced among other programmes, the teaching of French on the Wa, Tamale and Navrongo campuses, in November 2006.
Professor Galaa explained that the rational was to train bilingual graduates to take advantage of Ghana’s strategic location in the West African sub region and also highlight the importance of French in regional integration and global discourse.
He said the FLC was therefore set up and equipped with teaching and learning resources like radio cassette players, a satellite dish with decoder, assorted books and CD-ROMs.
The Centre was provided with funding from Solidarity Priority Fund (FSP) of the French Government.
Prof Galaa said the FSP had been supporting the Centre since its establishment with the latest support being four boxes of assorted books and CD ROMS received in January 2018.
The French Government has also been instrumental in funding capacity building programmes for FLC staff to update their skills and teaching techniques both in Ghana and in France.
The French government has been helping UDS to improve teaching and learning of French over the last 10 years.
“I will like to assure you that every effort made in that direction is highly appreciated and the University will continue to do its part to ensure that the programme is sustained”, he said.
A delegation from the French Embassy including; Julie Fournier, Cooperation Attache for French and Sonia Couprie, Technical Advisor for University Cooperation between France and Ghana, took part in the inauguration.
Speaking on behalf of the delegation, Julie Fournier, said she was happy to see many higher education institutions in Ghana willing to train future professionals in proficiency of French to make them more competitive in regional and international job markets.
She praised UDS’s role in increasing French Language studies, particularly the Wa campus and expressed that with the new centre, the French Language programme would receive a boost.
She added gone were the days when French was considered as a subject for general arts students and noted: “things are changing, the world is evolving fast and if one wants to be successful he/she has to get comprehensive education.”