Techiman VVU Holds Maiden Matriculation

The Techiman Campus of the Valley View University (VVU) has held its maiden matriculation with an assurance by its Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dr Dr Daniel Bour, that the university authorities will not compromise on its core values, which are excellence, integrity and service to humanity.

He stressed that, the university, which is the bonafide property of the Seventh- Day Adventist (SDA) church, required excellence in academic performance and expected integrity in all the activities of the students on campus and beyond.

He said ‘‘This is the bottom-line and essence of our moral and spiritual training and we emphasise discipline, a factor which serves as a catalyst for social transformation’’.

In all, 317 students comprising 207 males, representing 65.3 per cent and 110 females, representing 34.7 per cent were admitted to pursue various degree programmes, including Agribusiness, Information Technology, Human Resource, Banking and Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Education and Computer Science.

In his address, Prof. Bour said the educational system of the SDA church was based on the philosophy of developing all the faculties of a person, namely physical, mental, social, spiritual and moral, adding that, the philosophy was unique and incidental to social, economic, moral and spiritual transformation, which were the pre-requisites of development.

The Vice-Chancellor emphasised that, education was, undoubtedly, the foundation of every development initiative, and that no nation could realise progress if it failed to focus on educational development.

He cautioned that, the university authorities would not entertain any student who got involved in examination malpractices or broke university rules with impunity, and disclosed that the university had a pastor and a team of counsellors to assist students to build a strong, moral and spiritual calibre.

Located in a propitious agricultural ecology, he said the campus had a comparative advantage in running a successful Agribusiness programme, which was indeed a cutting edge programme in a developing country.

The Immediate Past President of the university, Dr Seth Laryea, who was the Guest Speaker, noted that, the new world was replete with many challenging, thought-provoking and interesting things and, therefore, advised the students that, instead of being provided with everything, they would rather be investigating, analysing, synthesitising, drawing conclusions and defending them.

As students, he said they should consider ways of reaching out to the less-privileged young people in the Techiman Municipality by initiating projects that would improve their situation, thereby serving as good role models.

The Municipal Chief Executive for Techiman, Mr Alex Kyeremeh, who represented the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, pointed out that, any act of indiscipine, whether vandalism, cheating at examination or inappropriate behaviour towards university authorities, was a betrayal of the society which was investing so much in their education.