By | 15 November 2019

The University of Ghana’s Vice-Chancellor receives visitors from the University of Connecticut

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 Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu receives Ms. Yan Hong (left) and Ms. Carrie Field (right)

A delegation from the University of Connecticut School of Law has paid a courtesy call on the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu. The delegation made up of Ms. Yan Hong, Director of Graduate Admissions and Ms. Carrie Field, Director of Graduate and Exchange Programmes at the University of Connecticut School of Law.  The delegation was accompanied by the Dean of School of Law, Prof. Raymond Atuguba. The purpose of the visit was to explore international opportunities for students in line with the agenda of the University of Ghana School of Law’s (UGLS) Partnership with other universities.

Prof. Raymond Atuguba in his opening remarks said the visit was part of a plan to strengthen collaborations and exchanges between the University of Ghana School of Law and other Universities to improve the student-faculty experience as well as student-faculty exchange programmes.

Prof. Atuguba indicated that some students of the Law School who graduate prefer to undertake graduate programmes whilst waiting to be called to the bar. In view of that, the Dean noted that there would be a lecture on admission processes for both Juris Doctor (JD) programmes as well as graduate programmes. He added that requests from students have been received for recommendations to pursue further studies; hence the introduction of graduate programmes was imperative.

Prof. Atuguba revealed that the UGLS will start PhD programmes in January 2020 adding that the programme has been approved by the School of Graduate Studies. He expressed appreciation to the Vice–Chancellor for his continuous support to the UGLS.

Photograph of Officials present during the courtesy call 

Welcoming the delegation, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu expressed appreciation to the delegation and recommended that the exchange programme should go beyond the School of Law and be extended to other areas of the University. He was hopeful that the partnership would deepen the relationship between the two universities and called for a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen the relationship between the two universities.

Ms. Yan Hong in  brief remarks noted that the University of Connecticut School of Law started in 1921 and is the only public Law school in Connecticut and one of the only four in New England.  She indicated that currently they run four LLM programmes namely; LLM in Insurance Law, LLM in U.S Legal Studies, LLM in Human Rights & Social Justice and LLM in Energy & Environmental Law for graduate students, adding that the university receives students from Ghana almost every year.

According to Ms. Carrie Field, the JD programme is a first degree law programme which runs for three years; noting that scholarships for JD Programme are based on the law School Admission Test (LSAT) scores. According to her, students who already have LLB are given one year scholarship in the first year. She disclosed that University of Connecticut offers 17 clinics which provide hands-on practical training to upper-level students who earn up to 10 credits for their work.

“These clinics include, strong and widely recognized Asylum and Human Rights, Energy and Environmental Law, Children’s Advocacy, Criminal, Intellectual Property and Entrepreneurship Law, Mediation, U.S. Attorneys, and Tax Clinics are available”, she added.

Present at the meeting were Prof. Andrew Anthony Adjei, Coordinator, Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Teams, Prof. Boateng Onwona-Agyeman, Dean, School of Engineering Sciences, Dr. Ibrahim Bedi, Acting Director, Internal Audit and Mr. Joseph Oduro Nkansah, Deputy Registrar, Vice-Chancellor’s Office.