The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) on Saturday held its 13th Congregation in Accra, during which degrees were conferred on graduands from undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Professor Franklyn Acheampong Manu, GIMPA Rector appealed to government to stopped discriminating against the Institution when providing support to public tertiary institutions.

He said: “Government continues to ignore GIMPA when providing support to tertiary institutions. This continuing discrimination against GIMPA is something we have taken up with the relevant authorities and we look forward to the day that we will not be penalised for being successful.”

He pointed out that, for the 2013/14 academic year, GIMPA enrolled 1,762 students in undergraduate degree programmes.

Prof Manu said without any support from government, GIMPA had been able to admit 528 day-time undergraduate students, thus helping to alleviate the challenge of the two streams of graduates of senior high schools that wanted admissions into the universities.

He said: “ In furtherance of our goals of making major contributions to national human resource development, the Institution would be introducing the following degree programmes: PhD in Business Administration, PhD in Leadership, PhD in Law, Joint Executive Masters Business Administration-Master of Laws (LLM), International Executive Masters Business Administration and LLM.

“We will also be entering into partnership with the Centre for Economic Policy Analysis and the Private Enterprise Federation to establish a stronger relationship, which will include giving them a physical presence on the Greenhill Campus.

“GIMPA will be setting up a Centre for Law and Governance which will work closely with the Judiciary, Parliament, Civil Societies and Political Parties to enhance the quality of management in our public sectors.

“A Liberal Arts College will be set up which will provide a strong foundation for all degree programmes. This is important to improve the communication, analytical and critical thinking skills of graduates,” the Rector said.

Prof Manu said GIMPA is beginning the process of establishing an Honours College; adding that students who are good enough to get into this college would pay no fees.

“The...initiative will require that GIMPA recruits high calibre staff and offer enhanced compensation packages,” he said.

Prof Manu said GIMPA proposes to initiate projects in the coming year such as Accra City Campus to host evening undergraduate programmes to ease the pressure on facilities at the Greenhill Campus, a new building for the Business School on the Greenhill Campus, a Cafeteria that would provide for better delivery of quality services and the first phase of the jubilee library.

The Rector announced that Dr Goodluck Jonathan, President of Nigeria, has fully redeemed his pledge of raising $1 million towards the construction of the proposed Jubilee Library.

He said despite major challenges; GIMPA had opened three satellite campuses in Kumasi, Takoradi and Tema.

He said as a result of rapidly increasing enrollments and their desire to offer quality instruction, GIMPA had engaged in a major recruitment exercise that has resulted in a top notch faculty.

Prof Manu said the goal of the school is to have at least 80 percent of the faculty teaching in degree programmes to have doctorates or be professionally qualified.

Dr Christina Amoako-Nuama, Chairman of GIMPA Governing Council, said the Institution encourages its graduates to meet challenges of leadership not only in Ghana but globally.

Professor Justice S. K. Date-Bah, a retired Supreme Court Judge, who was the guest of honour, urged government to ensure that within the next five years, it adopts a policy framework that prioritises research, innovation and skills development to address the problem of graduate employability.