By Iddi Yire/Jacqueline Appiagyei
Accra, Feb 19, GNA – The University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has launched two new Centres of Excellence as part of efforts by the University to expand its academic and research capacities.
The two new Centres are: Centre for Practical and Multi-disciplinary Legal Education and Training (CPMLET) and the Centre for Peace and Security Research (CPSR).
Professor Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey, Vice Chancellor, UPSA, in a speech read on his behalf, noted that the CPMLET was to promote practical and multidisciplinary legal education and training with the goal of advancing legal literacy in Ghana and to strengthen the rule of law, democracy and good governance.
“In furtherance with this vision, the CPMLET has been tasked to design academic programmes for accreditation in the field of law and in combination with the other management sciences with business specialisation programmes and create various business options with law based on industry trends and demands,” he said.
“It is expected that the multidisciplinary outlook of our law programmes will integrate theoretical and practical approaches to academic legal education through innovative measures and strategies.”
He said in the future, the UPSA aims to produce law graduates who were knowledgeable in legal theory and doctrine and skilled in relevant and practical aspects of the law.
Prof Amartey said CPMLET would also rollout specialised legal literacy short courses in various aspects of law and promote interdisciplinary legal scholarship by carrying out black letter and socio-legal research activities as well as establish and manage a journal of interdisciplinary legal research.
With regards to CPSR, Prof Amartey said the establishment of the Centre comes at a time when the University had introduced a Master of Arts Degree in Peace, Security and Intelligence Management, to give graduates the specialised skills to identify, analyse and respond to emerging complex security challenges in Ghana and the West Africa sub-region.
He said the general objective of the CPSR Centre was to undertake research, advocacy and capacity building in the fields of peace, security, conflict, and intelligence management.
He said the goal of these two objectives was to promote an environment of peace and stability in which the nation’s development aspirations could be pursued.
The CPSR shall be under research in key thematic areas and make its findings available through policy briefs, journals and stakeholder engagements with the aim of assisting the security sector and stakeholders to carry out their mandate effectively.
The Centre will also run short certificate courses in various security themes to enhance the professional advancement of security practitioners, government agencies and the private sectors to improve their skills and knowledge of promoting human security.
Mr Godwin Adagewine, Dean, CPMLET, UPSA, said the legal profession in Ghana today, as well as the legal system was undergoing radical transformation; citing that there was a growing standardization of professional requirements involving legal services, allied to which was the increasing demand that legal practice makes on practitioners, requiring considerable understanding and appreciation of the interrelationship between law and other disciplines; especially those disciplines that drive the process of globalisation – the business disciplines and information and communication technology (ICT).
“We therefore, have on our hands a vast and communicated system of law practice that demands professionals with the requisite expertise and skills to operate,” he said.
“It goes without saying therefore, that for you to remain relevant and competitive today in legal practice, whether as law graduate or as a law professional, you need to develop the requisite expertise not only in law but in various disciplines, especially in the disciplines of business and ICT”.
Mr Yaro Kasambata, Coordinator, CPSR, UPSA, said today, the issues that confront our security landscape were not only about sovereignty and territorial integrity but human security, safety and survival in the face of growing complexities in the global security environment.
Justice Julia Sarkodie-Mensah, a Consultant for E-Justice and a Criminal Justice Expert, who chaired the function lauded the UPSA for being a pace setter in many areas in tertiary education in Ghana; adding that the launch of the CPMLET would go a long way to transform legal education landscape in Ghana.
GNA