Afedzi Abdullah, GNA
Cape Coast, July 19, GNA – Mr Samuel Mawusi
Asafo, Registrar and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Chartered Institute
of Administrators and Management Consultant (CIAMC) has asked universities to
prioritise the role of administrators because they are critical to curtailing
campus unrest and ensuring peace and stability.
Their role, according to him must merit more
attention as it touched on important issues of power and strategic direction in
contemporary higher education.
Subsequently, he said “if our universities
are to experience stability, the extended part of the central pillar must be
periodically tailored on the role of administrators and what constitute
effective administration in the 21st century”.
His call comes in the wake of recent students’
unrest on the campuses of some public universities which distracted the
academic calendar as they were temporarily closed down.
Mr Asafo was speaking on the topic “Growing
together as university Administrators for national Development” at a mini Congress
and Continuous Professional Development (CPD) workshop held at Cape Coast.
It was organised on the theme: “Professional
Development in the 21st Century University administration”
He said research had shown that employee
behaviour in schools was influence by the power individuals and groups
exercised over each other and therefore administrators must duel on their pool
of skills to effectively deal with the situation when they arise.
Mr Asafo stressed the need for 21st century
university administrators to prioritise instructional requirement, expertise of
faculty and the ultimate needs of students adding that, their role in promoting
skill acquisition for effective development of the university could not be
debated.
In this regard, he urged them to continually
enhance their professional development and equip themselves with critical
thinking and communication skills, be creative and collaboration with others.
He said more than 20 percent of the
workforce in Ghanaian higher education was employed in administrative support
services, but noted that the profile of such group had changed considerably
over time and required higher education degree.
He therefore urged the university
administrators to endeavor to obtain higher degrees and professional charters
saying “if university administrators are seen to lack higher education, degrees
and professional charters, their influence over the system will be limited”.
Mr Asafo further encouraged university
administrators to be the facilitators of dialogues and ask critical questions
that bothered on how and what students must learn, what available tools and
resources can and will support academic staff and how to measure the
effectiveness of students.
Mrs Mildred Asmah, College Registrar,
College of Agricultural and Natural Sciences (CANS) of the University of Cape
Coast (UCC) appealed to university administrators to focus on achieving their
core functions.
This, she indicated was needed to aid the
effective performance of their institutions.
She prompted the administrators that their
role was increasingly becoming more problems-solving and called on them to
strengthen their working skills as leaders to be able to live up to the task.
She urged them to make a critical reflection
on their current practice and integrate theory and practice to improve the
quality of higher education administration.
GNA
