"Paper Certificates Alone Will Not Make Education"

Parents and educationists have been urged to train young people to be morally upright, and not concentrate on academic knowledge alone.

'If we have upright people at the helm of affairs, then we are not going to have the same levels of corruption and negligence as what prevails now,' Professor Daniel Kwame Bediako, Vice Chancellor of the Valley View University (VVU), said.

Launching the 40th anniversary celebration of the University at its campus at Oyibi in the Greater Accra Region, Prof. Bediako said it was unfortunate that the entire focus of education was to acquire certificates and get ahead in life.

He said true education was to build people into responsible, caring members of the society, who sought to be of service to mankind in every way possible, which was becoming missing in the acquisition of education.

Prof Bediako said VVU mainly sought to build people of character, who would go out to contribute towards a peaceful, orderly and progressive society.

Touching on the anniversary, Prof. Bediako said the University had chalked a fair measure of success, with a current population of about 10,000 students, an achievement that may not have seemed feasible 40 years ago in 1979, when the University commenced with less than 20 students.

He said the VVU sought to contribute its quota to the country's socio-economic growth by churning out graduates who were guided by the principles of honesty, accountability to the society at large, and also had a deep desire and yearned to ensure that the lives of their fellow humans improved.

The Vice Chancellor said it was only when the society mainly consisted of people with the right attitude, that socio economic progress would truly be chalked.

He said the University would build upon its achievements in the past 40 years and improve in all its fields of endeavour.

Dr. Leslie Pollard, President of Oakwood University in the US, and Guest Speaker for the occasion, launched the anniversary and advised the leadership of VVU to stand united, and ensure that the University had many more success stories to talk about in the next 40 years.

'Success always depends on team work. If you want to succeed, understand you cannot get there by yourself. What would happen to this University in the next ten years mainly depends on teamwork,' he said.

Dr Pollard urged the leadership of the University not to be discouraged in the face of difficulties, which he said always, came up in the quest for success, but to always strive forward in unity and ensure, that VVW grew from strength to strength.

Dr. Prudence Pollard, Assistant Vice President of Oakwood University and guest of honour, urged the students to strive for excellence, because it was key to survival in a competitive world.

'Excellence is the result of knowing that being good or even competent is not enough,' she said, adding that, whilst confidence enhanced a person's chances at succeeding, one main ingredient for achieving confidence was excellence.

Some key activities to mark the year-long celebration which come off next year are a career fair, an exhibition for various schools and faculties, alumni home-coming, and a number of others.

The University was established in 1979 by the West African Union Mission of the Seventh Day Adventist.

In 1997, it was absorbed into the Adventist University system, operated by the West Central Africa Division, now West Central African Division of the Seventh Day Adventist, with its headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d' Ivoire.

The University was initially called the Adventist Missionary College, and was located at Bekwai-Ashanti.

It was transferred to Adenta near Accra in 1983 where it operated in rented facilities, until it was relocated to its present site near Oyibi in 1989.

It was then renamed Valley View University.