The vision of the founding members of the Inter-University Conference for Doctoral Studies (IUCDS) to assist in mitigating some of the difficulties that PhD students face has been commended by Professor Mawutor Avoke, Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW).
At the beginning of a three-day seminar for doctoral students organized by the IUCDS, departments that offer PhD programs, and the School of Graduate Studies of UEW, Ghana, he gave the commendation.
The event's theme was: Vice Chancellors, Principals, and Heads of partner institutions, lecturers, deans, and students from the School of Graduate Studies attended the conference titled "Promoting Staff Development through Collaboration, Research, and Quality Teaching in Education."
The IUCDS is an academic body and partnership framework made up of sister institutions in Ghana and the West African subregion. Its goal is to make a system so that students of member institutions can register for doctoral degree programs at any of the institutions while adhering to the rules in each one.
In addition, it aims to create a pool of experts who can oversee and evaluate doctoral theses and dissertations in order to facilitate the movement of researchers from various member institutions and enhance staff development.
As a result, doctoral studies will be made easier and collaborative research will be encouraged to address the severe lack of motivated and well-trained academic staff at partner institutions.
To maintain students' academic interest in doctoral programs and other approving equivalents in the awards of certificates, diplomas, and degrees, Prof. Avoke emphasized the significance of partnerships with sister universities within and outside of Ghana, particularly in the West African subregion.
“Although it is true that the current conditions in universities make it difficult for students enrolled in Ph.D. programs to obtain sponsorship scholarships, PhD students must redouble their efforts to improve their research skills in light of the fact that they will be supervised by a large number of experts.
He continued, "Thesis supervisors and examiners within and outside UEW will all look through your work in order to realize the vision of the conference's founding members."
Prof. Avoke made the announcement that UEW had provided the Executive Secretary of IUCDS with an office space and a permanent administrator, and that the Centre for Documentation had also provided the secretariat with basic office supplies so that it could function fully and without hiccups.
The V.C. also promised that UEW would continue to support the conference and thanked the session's executives, organizers, and everyone else who helped make the program successful.
According to Prof. Dominic S. Y. Amuzu, Executive Secretary of the IUCDs, who provided an overview of the conference's activities, the IUCDS was established in response to a need in the French Department of UEW, where it was difficult to obtain scholarships for students to study in France.
He stated that, as a result, "it became imperative to look within the country and the sub-region for experts and supervisors."
He said that, despite the fact that the scientific unit was in Nigeria, the conference started with seven institutions and now had 12 members, with UEW serving as the journal's publication house and secretariat.
In a summary of the journal's activities, Prof. Akanbi M. Ilupeu, Head of the Department of European Languages and Integration Studies at the University of Lagos in Nigeria and Head of the Scientific Unit at IUCDS, stated that the journal, which was established in 2018, had published eight volumes containing articles from Nigeria, Ghana, La Cote d'Ivoire, and Benin.
Prof. Urbain K. Amoa, President of the University of Charles Louis de Montesquieu in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, and Chairman of the conference, emphasized the necessity of scientific research in doctoral training supported by a journal, a target audience of PhD students from the African space, and a multidisciplinary college of experts from Francophone and Anglophone universities with diverse linguistic backgrounds. He also emphasized the adoption of novel strategies in the midst of the rapid changes in
The research design/paradigm, methodology, documentation, defense of the thesis, publication of main findings, and knowledge dissemination were all topics of discussion among the participants.