The University of Cape Coast (UCC) will soon run a degree programme in the Chinese language, Professor Domwini Dabire Kuupole, Vice-Chancellor announced on Thursday. He said the Faculty of Arts is setting up a language laboratory which would support the effective teaching and learning of the language.
Prof. Kuupole said this at the maiden Chinese Ambassador’s Awards Ceremony held at UCC to honour five students who excelled in the Chinese liberal course being run by the school.
The award winners who studied the language for one Semester are Mr. Lawrence Ayornu, Mr. Dominic Tibabe Nabe, Ms. Irene Bekoe, Ms. Matilda Ewusie and Kouassy Jacob Grah and were each presented with certificates of honour and 500 dollars.
Prof. Kuupole said the study of Chinese as a degree programme had become necessary because of globalization and therefore called for support for the establishment of a language laboratory.
He said the programme, which is currently being run as a proficiency course, has beginners, intermediate and advanced levels, needed more Chinese lecturers to effectively run it and called for collaboration between Chinese universities, companies and agencies for the exchange of best practices.
He commended the Faculty of Arts for its immense role that made it possible for the running of the course, and urged them to work harder, especially when it is being considered for a degree programme.
The Chinese Ambassador in Ghana, Mr. Gong Jianzhong, stressed the importance of learning an extra foreign language, especially in the era of economic globalization and interdependent century, and said acquiring a new language meant mastering additional skill in communication to open more employment opportunities.
He said language was a bridge that linked different nations and people, adding that the China/Ghana diplomatic relation had forged a deep friendship which had seen both countries supporting each other in diverse ways.
He congratulated the award winners and advised them to become ambassadors of friendship for the two countries as well as encourage their friends to take the study of the language seriously.
Lawrence Ayornu and Matilda Ewusie, two of the award winners, who spoke in Chinese and English respectively, expressed their gratitude to the Chinese Embassy for the honour and their Chinese lecturer for his patience and guidance.
The Chinese Embassy donated a set of books to enhance the teaching and learning of the language.
