"Discipline will help you to be focused on your studies, do more research, finish your programme on time and achieve academic excellence and impact positively the knowledge acquired to your various organisations," he added.

Prof Duku Osei gave the advice at the weekend at a ceremony to welcome the 10 students admitted to begin the three-year Doctor of Management programme at GIMPA, Accra.

He charged the students of the programme, being the maiden one, to give off their best saying certificates would be presented to deserving students who had proven records of academic brilliance.

He advised them to cooperate with the lecturers and do all assignments as directed by faculty members to avoid any untoward situation, urging them to begin thinking about their topics for the thesis and start working on them as early as possible.

Prof Wisdom Akpalu, the Dean, GIMPA School of Research and Graduate Studies, said the institute was well positioned to offer the students with competitive education to contribute to national development.

"You need to prepare very well, because you will be challenged academically to justify your stay at the end of the programme. Doctorate degrees are tests of endurance and you will need to go through series of activities to mould you to be competitive in your fields of discipline," he added.

Prof Martin Morgan Tuuli, the Dean of GIMPA Business School, said the programme was designed for professionals and senior executives with extensive managerial experience who aimed to acquire knowledge to enable them to transform their organisations.

He said it was to equip graduates with skills in applying evidence-based management in their organisations and expose them to intellectual inquiry that emphasized the integration of theory to practice.

Madam Bernice Adjei, on behalf of the students, pledged to cooperate with management and expect to be introduced to new models that would empower them to serve the society and the nation as a whole.