Government has renewed its commitment towards assisting the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) with a fully equipped electronic library aimed at offering students sound IT education as demanded of experts in communication field of studies.
Government also promised to support the school financially towards early realization and completion of the school’s ongoing lecture hall complex project at its new site located at Dzorwulu, a suburb of Accra.
The Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Julius Debrah, gave the assurance in a speech read on his behalf by Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, Minister of State at the Presidency, during GIJ’s graduation ceremony of the first batch of postgraduate students from the newly established School of Graduate Studies and Research.
The Ghana Institute of Journalism has trained a dedicated corps of journalists and public relations professionals for the media and communication industry since its inception in 1959.
But unfortunately the school is currently faced with infrastructure problems, which the management is trying to solve through the use of internally generated funds.
The Chief of Staff in his speech called on the rector of GIJ, Dr. Wilberforce Dzisah, to liaise with the Ministry of Communication, National Communications Authority including GIFEC and other relevant bodies with regard to the E-library Project before keeping his office posted.
“In this era of technology, I assure you that government will not relent in supporting the IT needs of this university especially the E-Library Project,” he posited.
The School of Graduate Studies and Research (SOGSaR) under the GIJ honoured the first batch of 90 students who successfully completed 15-month master degrees programmes in Journalism, Public Relations, Media Management and Development Communication.
The colourful graduation ceremony was highly patronized by an array of government officials, students from other tertiary institutions, friends and families of the graduands as well the general public.
The first batch of graduating students was officially admitted to start their programme of study in October 2014 after GIJ had received the nod from the National Accreditation Board on 1st September, 2013.
Out of the 99 students admitted, 90 of them have been honoured with postgraduate degrees within their chosen four areas of discipline.
Eight of these graduands offered journalism, whilst 15 of them read Media management, Public Relations -27 and Development Communication 30. A total of 53 of these graduands are male whilst 37 are females.
Government also lauded the management of the school for the frantic effort made in seeking public private partnership (PPP) to build hostels at the new campus.
Delivering his address during ceremony, Dr. Wilberforce Dzisah, Rector of GIJ said: “The catalyst behind the introduction of these specialised fields in communications and media has been the need to fill an intellectual and professional gap identified in our educational and national development.
“As we continue to review and critically assess our curriculum and its impact on national development, it dawned on me us that there is a gap to be filled in order to address the inherent weaknesses in media and communications as a useful corollary in national development,” he said.
The School of Graduate Studies and Research was established on February 12, 2014 and unveiled by the Chairman of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), Prof. C N. B. Tagoe.
The institute has awarded some deserving students who excelled in their chosen fields of studies during the 15-month master degrees programmes.
By Joseph Kobla Wemakor|GIJ, Accra|Ghana