Global Professional Studies wins award

Global Professional Studies (GPS) has won the Best Professional Institution award conferred by the London Centre of Marketing (LCM), a foreign professional country run by some educational institutions in Ghana. GPS was conferred with the award because of its outstanding performance in the 2009-2010 examination held under the supervision of the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC). The GPS scored 96 per cent, making it the best and most consistent study centre in the country. The Head of the Department of Building Technology at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science Technology (KNUST), Professor Joshua Ayarkwa, announced this at the maiden graduation ceremony of the GPS held at the Kumasi Polytechnic.

One hundred and fifty students graduated at the ceremony, which was on the theme, “Achieving our search through professional education for the growth and development of Ghana.”

Prof. Ayarkwa said private tertiary education played a vital role in the creation, dissemination and application of knowledge, as well as the adaptation of knowledge for the socio-economic development of the nation. He noted that although there was expansion in enrolment in tertiary education, the participation rate of the age group 18 to 20 in tertiary institutions was as low as 2.5 per cent, compared to 30 to 40 per cent for the corresponding age group in developed countries.

He said the inability of existing tertiary institutions to meet the high demand for tertiary education had resulted in rapid population growth and other social vices in the country. He, therefore, urged the government to assist the private sector in the provision of quality education at the tertiary level. The Dean of the School of Theology and Missions at the Valley View University, Dr Robert Osei Bonsu, said true education was the harmonious development of the mental, physical and spiritual powers to equip students, adding that this should be the goal of every institution to meet the challenges that confront students daily in life.

Dr Osei Bonsu, who was the chairman for the event, urged educators to aim at leading students to a life-long dedication of service to others and help naturally selfish human beings into persons of service for others. He expressed the need to impart good morals and ethical convictions in students, so that they could function in the real world and prepare themselves for the future.

The Director of GPS, Dr Rodney Antwi, said the institute started with the LCM Accounting and Finance programme and through consistent improvement and meticulous administrative discipline, it had been able to add other ICM programmes such as Management Studies. He said GPS was embarking on a massive expansion drive and it was its priority to pursue programmes in Public Relations and Marketing, Entrepreneurship and other degree programmes.

Dr Antwi lauded the government for its commitment to boost professional education in the country and said the granting of degree status to LCM graduate diplomas in Management Studies was one of the interventions to enhance professional qualification. He called on government agencies responsible for education and other stakeholders to go to the aid of private institutions which, in their own way, were helping meet the tertiary educational needs of many people whose career ambitions could have remained unfulfilled but for private sector participation in the delivery of tertiary education. Dr Antwi advised the graduates to brighten every corner they would find themselves in to move the country forward.