UG V-C calls for tax waiver for student laptops
The newly inducted Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, has appealed to the government for students tax waiver to acquire laptops and handheld devices for their studies.
According to the first female V-C of the university, the use of technological devices has become a need, critical in a period “where we are upscaling technology to make us functional in the fourth industrial revolution, and as we live through and beyond a health pandemic.”
She said this during her inauguration on Tuesday, October 26, in Accra, as she assumes office, following her confirmation as the substantive Vice-Chancellor of the university by the Governing Council a week ago.
She further appealed to the government to help clear the university’s huge financial liabilities resulting from judgment debts and botched agreements to start from a clean sheet while they explore alternative sources of revenue.
Prof Amfo disclosed that there were two additional campuses being established in Kumasi and Takoradi to absorb the large number of students in the country, especially the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) graduates.
She indicated that under her leadership, UG would have a robust system that would ensure prudent management of resources, guarantee value for money and sound decision-making in all transactions for success.
She also pledged to promote innovation through teaching and learning and ensure technology-driven work founded on humanism while actively pursuing the vision of becoming a world-class research-intensive university.
President Akufo-Addo pledges support to V-C
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, affirmed his support for the Vice-Chancellor in her new role.
The president highlighted reforms in the educational system, including broadening access at all levels.
“We need to mobilise all the talents and resources of the entire population without discrimination or reserve to make the decisive push for the social and economic transformation which we all seek for our beloved nation of Ghana,” Akufo-Addo said.
Brief profile of Prof Nana Aba Appiah Amfo
Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, an alumna of the University of Ghana, had her secondary education at Holy Child School and Archbishop Porter Girls’ Secondary School before entering the university for her Bachelor’s degree in French and Linguistics.
Both her MPhil (2001) and Ph.D. (2007) degrees in Linguistics are from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway.
Prof Amfo has received additional training in higher education management and leadership from Harvard Business School, University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and INSEAD, France.
Her career in academia started in 2001 as a Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics after her Master’s degree. In 2007, the same year she obtained her PhD degree, she was promoted Senior Lecturer. She became Associate Professor in 2011 and Professor in 2017.
Her research interests are in the linguistic sub-discipline of pragmatics, which allows her to explore the role that context plays in conversational interactions and how that influences communication in different domains such as health, politics, gendered and migratory contexts.
She has led several research projects in her disciplinary area of linguistics, as well as in multidisciplinary teams. Her research has resulted in numerous internationally recognised publications and conference presentations.
She has been an external examiner for a number of universities, including the University of Nairobi, the University of Dar es Salaam, Stellenbosch University, the University of the Western Cape, and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Furthermore, she serves on the Consultation Board of the International Pragmatics Association (the first African to be so elected since the Association’s establishment in 1986). She is an Assistant Secretary-General of the Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures (a UNESCO affiliated scholarly association).
Prof Amfo was the president of the Linguistics Association of Ghana (2010 – 2014). She is a member of the West African Linguistics Society and the Society for Communication, Medicine and Ethics (COMET).
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