::..CDS - UCC

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The University of Cape Coast (UCC) was inaugurated in December 15, 1962 as a University College and placed in a special relationship with the University of Ghana.

It was one of the rare sea-front universities of the world. Its main entrance is only 50 meters away from the Atlantic Ocean.

On October 1, 1971, the University attained the status of a full and independent university with the authority to confer its own degrees, diplomas and certificates by an act of Parliament – the University of Cape Coast Act, 1971 (Act 390) and subsequently the University of Cape Coast Law 1992 (PNDC Law 278).

UCC was established in 1962 to train graduate professional teachers for Ghana’s second cycle institutions, teacher training colleges and the Ministry of Education. Its functions have since then expanded to include training education professionals for all levels of the educational system as well as graduate professionals in the social, biological and physical sciences, agriculture, business administration and the arts. Current student enrolment stands at 15,028 of which 30% are females. Teaching and research are carried out in five schools and faculties, the faculties of Social Sciences, Arts, Education, Science and the School of Agriculture.

The Vice-chancellor, the official head has overall responsibility for the academic and administrative activities of the university. The Registrar, who coordinates the administrative activities of the university, serves as the official secretary of the Vice-Chancellor. The university is governed and run on the basis of policy decisions made by the various statutory committees as well as other bodies and authorities set out in its Acts and Statutes.

The operational units of the Academic division are the teaching and research departments of the schools and faculties of Agriculture, Arts, Education, Social Sciences as well as Biological and Physical Sciences. The Academic Board is the supreme academic authority and policy-making body. The office of the Dean of Graduate Studies coordinates all postgraduate programmes.

In the new millennium the university hopes to achieve worldwide acclaim and derived from this vision is mission intent to strongly position the UCC as the University of Choice in Ghana. Accordingly the university constantly seeks alternative ways to respond effectively to the changing developmental needs of a changing world. The university has thus instituted many innovative programmes including career-oriented graduate training, sandwich courses at all levels, distance education, virtual systems technologies and library automation...

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The Centre for Development Studies (CDS) is a department in the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Cape Coast. It was originally established in 1969 as the Social Studies Project, an entirely research-oriented collaboration between the Institute of Social Studies, (ISS) in The Hague, Netherlands and the University of Cape Coast, to, conduct research on social issues and development.

The Centre for Development Studies evolved into the CDS in 1973 but its development research mandate has since broadened into a postgraduate and career-oriented teaching focus.

The Centre’s objective has been, and remains, to make a significant contribution to national and international efforts to identify and understand the processes and mechanisms of change and the stock of evidence-led information needed by policy makers and administrators to solve development problems.

In order to meet this objective the Centre undertakes the following specific activities:

Rigorous scientific research.
Publishing significant theoretical and empirical findings.
Working constantly for improvement in methodological standards.
Collaborating with institutions and researchers of repute, across disciplines.
Engaging in the training of postgraduate students in academic and career-oriented disciplines.

Its research has required the collection of substantial amounts of primary data.
It has a teaching and research staff of highly competent academicians with specializations that cut across the spectrum of scientific disciplines.
Its students have found ready market for their acquired skills which include capacity to undertake research.

The Centre has thus been able to build a research infrastructure that allows pursuit of the primary objective – the production of knowledge that is geared at improving policy making and stimulating competence in students.

The Centre runs research degree programmes at the doctoral and masters level. It also runs taught courses in 2-semester Sandwich programmes in HRM (Human Resource Management), HRD (Human Resource Development), DGL (Democracy, Governance, Law and Development), EMP (Environment Management Policy).

Presently, the Centre is collaborating with a three-university network in the Netherlands with sponsorship from NPT to establish the postgraduate MA Sandwich Programme in Governance and Sustainable Development. The Centre also collaborates with the African Participation Development Programme (APADEP) of the GTUC and ILO and hosts the teaching programme leading to the Diploma in Labour Studies and the Executive Postgraduate Certificate in Labour Policy Studies. Outreach Programmes of the CDS include; collaboration with industry, district assemblies and organizations in the area of research to support policy making and capacity building. The results are specialized courses and programmes designed to meet targeted needs identified through research. Currently, the CDS collaborates with the following organizations:

NUFFIC

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FACILITIES

To facilitate the realization of its objectives the Centre is equipped with local area network that enables inter-office communication and access to the Internet and this facility is available to all staff and students.

It also has a 33-seater bus a mini bus and a cross-country four-wheel drive. Its special reference library houses thousands of books, periodicals and articles on development studies and large sections of its catalogue is available to users online on request. The library also conducts literature searches for users and plans are advanced to equip each student with a thematic pack consisting of required readings, bibliographies and information resources related to specific research areas.

The library is home to most of the APADEP collection of documents on general and academic publications, research manuals, and case study reports. All literature sources identified as required reading for all courses are also housed in the special Reference Library.