Tamale, Feb. 13, GNA - Prof. John B. K. Kaburise, Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS), has commended government's commitment for the development of human resource as an important pillar in its strategy for moving the country into a middle-income nation.

He said the type of human resources required for this purpose depended on a vibrant higher education sector, and therefore, government's commitment to create and sustain such a vibrant higher education sector was laudable.

Prof. Kaburise gave the commendation at the Sixth Congregation of the UDS in Tamale on Saturday.

He said the UDS was the first and only public university that had been established without any seed money but noted that the Ghana Education Trust Fund GETFund had for the past three years supported the university considerably to improve infrastructure and the provision of teaching and office equipment in its four campuses simultaneously Prof. Kaburise announced that the UDS would soon enter into discussions with the Polytechnics in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West and Brong Ahafo Regions to explore the idea of conjoint qualifications.

The concept would entail the possibility of UDS students graduating concurrently with a degree and a polytechnic diploma in a field of their choice.

The Vice Chancellor said students of the polytechnics in return could obtain their diploma plus a degree, which they could complete within two years of obtaining their Higher National Diploma (HND). "These developments are all geared towards producing graduates equipped to operate in the mainstream of the national economy", he said.

Prof. Kaburise announced that plans were far advanced for the UDS to establish an ultra modern meat-processing laboratory at the Animal Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture on commercial basis with a credit facility from the National Investment Bank.

"In today's world, the survival of any organisation, be it government or private, does not solely depend on the amount and quality of resources it has but on its ability to identify opportunities and take advantage of them", he said.

He said consumers of meat and other meat products in Northern Ghana and elsewhere had always expressed their dissatisfaction about the unhygienic ways meat was processed for human consumption. "The meat factory would not only satisfy the quest of consumers for quality meat but also their quest for diverse meat products. "This should also be a welcome news to second cycle educational institutions and cattle owners in northern parts of the country, who have been transporting their live cattle over long distances to southern cities and incurring high transport costs and mortality rates", he said. The Vice Chancellor said with the establishment of the factory, it would be used to offer practical teaching to students, help generate income for the university and to empower the rural farmers in its catchments areas economically.

"This venture would significantly help reduce poverty levels in Northern Ghana, he said, adding, "it will also give meaning to UDS's vision of becoming a home of world-class pro-poor scholarship". 13 Feb. 06