The African University College of Communications has launched its 10th anniversary celebrations at the premises of the AUCC Discovery House in Adabraka, Accra, Ghana.

The theme for the year long anniversary for the University which was established in 2002 is “Education in an age of globalization and convergence-AUCC @10.”

Speaking on the theme, the founder and president of AUCC and former minister of state in the republic of Ghana, Hon. Kojo Yankah, made a clarion call to African universities to take cognizance of the rapid growth of the application and integration of advanced information and communication technologies (ICT’s) in the operations of global businesses and align their academic programmes and courses to enable their graduates to meet the dynamic demands of the globalized market place.

According to Hon. Yankah, the information age boosted by the new media had ensured that Ghana, like most countries, had swiftly integrated into the globalized world through increasing international trade, international migration, international investment and technology transfer. He stated that it had now become imperative that Ghanaian universities skillfully aligned their courses in order to train individuals with the requisite knowledge in new technologies and techniques using the emerging vehicle of multi-media. He further added that multi-media convergence (the coming together of broadcasting, cable and telecommunications services to form the new media world) was steadily gaining importance in the modern world of business stating “Africans, particularly those in journalism and communication related fields need to learn about the important link between globalization and convergence.”

Hon. Yankah revealed that it was in recognition of the current demands at the workplace that AUCC had decided to embark on new programmes that were going to run on ICT platforms like the AUCC School of Film and Multimedia Studies (SFMS) as well as AUCC Distance Learning Centre which was specifically designed for workers, students and professionals who did not want to become irrelevant in their work places.

He further stated that AUCC was adopting modern trends in pedagogy without shedding its afro-centric identity because “we have to maintain and be proud of our africanness since we believe that a tree does not grow without roots.”

This pan -Africanist orientation of AUCC was high lighted when as part of the programme, there was a display of indigenous African poetry, African dance and African food by AUCC students who were indigenes of ten different African countries.

Another activity to mark the Launch was a lecture on the topic Diversity as a goal for excellence  by a visiting professor from Ohio University in Athens (USA) Prof. Ralph Izard. Prof. Izard whilst congratulating AUCC for attaining its historic 10th milestone, explained that diversity was the “willingness to allow all points of view to be included in a discussion and to carefully consider the merits of those points of view.”

The chairman for the event, UNESCO Communications Consultant and CEO for Ada Radio, Prof. Alex Quarmyne stated that he was proud of his long standing association with AUCC and encouraged both faculty and students of AUCC not to relent in the pursuit of educational excellence.

Dignitaries who delivered congratulatory messages to the University included the chief of Adabraka, Nii Tetteh Adjabeng I, whose stool land in Adabraka AUCC was located upon and a representative from the AUCC Chapter of the Canadian non-governmental organization, Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) Mr. Robin McGeough.

By:Barbara Gyamfi