Dr Sam Jonah, Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), said on Tuesday that there was the growing need for the country’s universities to be more focused and results-oriented.
Universities should also be more responsive to industry through increased interdisciplinary collaboration to remain relevant and self-sufficient, he said.
Dr Jonah was launching a reviewed five-year strategic document to guide the operations of the UCC to among other things, make the university strongly positioned and acclaimed as one of the best world-wide.
The 45-page document titled; "UCC Corporate Strategy" indicates that global transformation had significantly altered the way academic discourses are conducted and so universities must respond to the challenges accompanied by globalization and technological development.
It was in that direction that the strategic thrust seeks to identify the strengths of the institution which has a broad-based liberal and professional programme with highly skilled, self-motivated and dedicated staff, vast landed property and a reasonable amount of physical infrastructure among others, to build on them.
The cooperate strategic thrust, which spans 2012 to 2017, also seeks to create an environment to improve student life, foster student-focused learning and students with strong ethics and commitment to society and recruit, develop and retain high caliber and motivated faculty and administrative staff.
The university is also, among other things, expected to create a learning organization culture that enhances team work, efficiency, discipline and commitment and improve upon management capacity and institutional governance system.
Dr Jonah, who gave a brief background to the document, said it was the first of its kind to be initiated in 2003 to 2008 which accounted for the positive policy direction that propelled UCC to become the "University of Choice" in Ghana.
He expressed gratitude to all stakeholders who contributed to enrich the document and urged all innovative, talented, hardworking and forward-thinking members of staff and stakeholders with the interest of UCC at heart, to move it forward.
Professor Albert Kendie, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, stressed the need for cooperate bodies and organizations in the country to ensure that their plan of action were implemented adding that the UCC must “walk the talk” to make the thrusts a reality.