Fiapre (B/A), Oct 11, GNA - Most Reverend Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, Catholic Bishop of Sunyani, has urged the Catholic University College of Fiapre community to be dedicated, with heart and mind, to the pursuit of divine and human wisdom.

He advised the administration, teaching and non-teaching staff and students of the University "to dig deeper into knowledge and not to be shallow and superficial, for a university is not a place to nurture common sense".

Addressing the 11th matriculation of the University, Bishop Gyamfi said a University was "rather a place to struggle against common sense, understood as the spirit of the time, which does not always mean good sense, but prejudice and preconceived ideas". A total of 874 new students who gained admission into the University were matriculated and would pursue various academic disciplines.

The Episcopal chairman called on the university community to have the courage to come out of common sense and seek something more profound and particularly urged the students and teachers to seek to know the value of knowledge.

"For the length of your stay here as a student or teacher seek to acquire not just knowledge but also the value of the knowledge you have acquired.

Most Rev Gyamfi reminded the fresh students that they had chosen a university that would teach them to learn to live better. "This temple of academic spiritual and moral excellence should help you form yourselves to contribute to make your fellow students on campus and later the Ghanaian society at large live with joy, openness, truth and in freedom", he said. The Catholic Bishop stressed that one of the most protected and cherished values in the University was freedom and the students were free to explore all forms of knowledge and to follow conscience at all times.

He however asked the students to at the same time remember that "liberty of conscience is acquired through the pursuit of truth and fidelity to conscience is something that is difficult". Professor James Hawkins Ephraim, Vice Chancellor, stated that the University was growing steadily every year as interest in it was also increasing significantly.

"We at the University want to believe that the high interest is a consequence of an expectation that only quality education can be delivered at the Catholic University", he said. The Vice Chancellor noted that the University was matching the significant increases in student numbers with commensurate academic and non-academic staff increases and infrastructure development with support from the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference.

Prof Ephraim expressed gratitude to all stakeholders and partners including the National Investment Bank, Ghana Commercial Bank, Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) for their "positive engagement".

He congratulated parents of students at the University for having the confidence in the institution and trusting that the Catholic University "is an institute that can provide the 'Manual of Life' to their children/wards.

The Vice Chancellor advised the new students to remember that the University had chosen them among the lot and would transform them into Saints to do great things for God. "The University has already placed value on you so you are called upon to also place value on yourselves", he told them and advised them to be disciplined, innovative and to develop a heart of excellence during their four year stay on campus.