The Central University College (CUC), as it is known today, is the result of the strategic transformation of a trinity and divinity school into a modern-day internationally renowned premier private tertiary educational institution in Ghana. It is the first private tertiary educational institution (University College) to be established in Ghana. The School of Business Management and Administration (SBMA) was established in 1997 as part of a targeted transformational educational initiative of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) of Ghana. As of then and now, the School has remained a visionary endeavour to contribute to national development. By all accounts, the SBMA is the backbone and flagship of the Central University College. It accounts for nearly 90% of the total student population of the College.
The core mission of the School is to provide market-driven academic, professional, and practice-oriented business programmes in diverse fields of study to satisfy the needs of the academia, business, industry, and government. This judicious blend of academic excellence, distinctive scholarship, and practice is what has made the Central University College, indeed the SBMA, the leading name in private tertiary business education in the West African sub-region.
SBMA is a cutting-edge business School of distinctive competence focused on the founding core values of the University of producing “transformational leaders” who are imbued with true Christian values as life-long lifestyle and service to humanity. In pursuit of and as undeniable evidence of these overriding goals, the SBMA has produced top quality professionals in diverse fields such as business, industry, banking, insurance, education, public service, and a host of top- ranking personnel in sensitive sectors of the Ghanaian economy.
The strong and preferential market demand for the products of the School has been commendable. The School remains the sole player in the field of providing quality worker-oriented week-end educational programmes for the teaming masses of qualified workers of Ghana. This accounts for the literal flooding of students into the broad range of programmes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The last year saw the bring into fruition by the School the most affordable, exciting, strategically located, attractive, customer-focused and demand-driven quality MBA programmes in the areas of finance, marketing, human resources management, and general management in Ghana.
TEACHING METHODS
Modern day educational institutions demand utilisation of diverse but time-tested methods and approaches to teaching and learning. Consequently, at CBS, several methods and techniques are employed to advance teaching and learning, impart knowledge and understanding, and develop students of Central University College. The various methods employed for teaching and learning at the CBS include lectures, seminars, field trips, role plays, class discussions, group work, peer lecturing, case study, business internship, public lectures, workshops, tutorials, one-on-one faculty-student interactions, and guided study. Use of these varied teaching and learning methods has proven to be very effective in all of our academic programmes in accounting, banking and finance, marketing management, agribusiness, management studies, and ICT
.
The CBS endeavours to achieve sustainable excellence in teaching and learning at all levels. There is flexibility in reviewing and updating programme contents and teaching methodologies to meet the needs of the students, business, and the academia. This is intended to make the School a major invigorative center of teaching and learning excellence in Ghana.
Quality of teaching and learning depends, to a large extent, on the quality and dedication of its teaching and support staff. Our teaching staff is made up of a good blend of dynamic and youthful academics and highly seasoned academics practitioners. This blend requires innovative teaching and learning style and techniques. These are promoted through the School aggressive staff development programmes. The School utilizes two types of adjunct faculty. One group is made up of the regular part-time lecturers who are drawn from business, industry, and public service based on their industry and more professional competencies. The second group comprised one-off lecturers who participate in our one-of-a-kind Contemporary Issues in Management Seminars.
In line with the dictates of the market place, our programmes are offered through four-year day, evening, and week-end programmes. To provide a more relaxed environment for the teaming week-end students, most of whom are full-time workers, the School is in the process of converting the week-end programme into a more relaxed or less stressful five-year programme.
ASSESSMENT
SBMA believes in thoroughly challenging the students throughout each semester of their four-year programmes. Five means of student assessment are employed by the School during each semester. These are class assignments, term essays, reports from attachment to business organisations, class discussions, mid-semester examinations, and end-of-semester or trimester examinations. Students are assessed over the entire duration of their four-year degree programmes.
Philosophy of Programmes
The primary objective of the School of Business Management and Administration is to serve as a catalyst for preparing devout, morally well-grounded, and informed business executives, analysts, academics, entrepreneurs, and short-sleeved arch performers in various fields of endeavour and professional calling.
Competencies in a foreign language and modern information communication technology is a cornerstone of the CBS ’s programme offerings. At CUC, special attention is attached to teaching and learning of French and Computer Studies. All of our students are required to take at least two years of instruction in these two subjects. Out of the lot, some students continue the study of the French Language for the entire duration of their four-year programmes.
The School provides total education, training, and development for its students. It espouses well-rounded discipline in moral and ethical education aimed at cultivating a morally upright personality in each student. At the CBS, students are enabled to benefit from balanced and holistic educational and development programmes that tend to deepen, refine, and broaden their perception of the inherent relationships between their physical and spiritual needs on a life-long basis.
Programmes of the School
The Central Business School offers six undergraduate degrees namely:
- Bachelor of Science in Administration (Accounting)
- Bachelor of Science in Administration (Marketing)
- Bachelor of Science in Administration (Human Resource Management)
- Bachelor of Science in Banking and Finance
- Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Management
- Bachelor of Science in Management Studies
Work Programmes
The unique nature of our education, blended with market driven and academic-oriented focus gives the programmes of the School an exceptional professional outlook. This readily attracts the critical quest of employers in their bid to recruit young graduates with much more than a mere solid grounding in their respective fields of study. A tracer study has emphasized the preference of employers for graduates of Central University College. A great number of these graduates can be found at any of the primary banks in Ghana. They can also be found in business, industry, government, and academic institutions in Ghana and elsewhere. The management of the School is greatly satisfied with employers’ preference for its graduates.
The Future
We are excited about the future of CBS. With regard to physical infrastructure, the acquisition or long-term financing leasing of a much larger facility for academic purposes at Mataheko would significantly transform the teaching and learning environment of the School. The School would then have the needed physical space to conduct its activities from its founding campus at Mataheko. The recently completed ultra-modern new campus in Miotso, near Dawenya, is the first of its kind by a private tertiary educational institution in Ghana. The business programmes at the Miotso campus is added attraction to our product offering.
CBS intends to expand and extend its programmes to other parts of Ghana and West Africa. Very soon, the patented week-end undergraduate and graduate programmes would be extended to Kumasi and Sekondi/Takoradi, where there is a concentration of much pent-up demand from full-time workers. We shall exploit our near monopoly position in worker-focused tertiary business education in these areas.
The School, in collaboration with the Center for Development and the Graduate School of Business will vigorously engage in training and professional development programmes for the general public. Post graduate diploma and certificate programmes are under serious consideration for next academic year.
CBS has signed two MOUs with two renowned tertiary business educational institutions in Senegal. There is another MOU with the West African Health Organisation for future collaboration in education and training. Plans are advanced for another collaboration with the London School of Business and Finance and CIMA for training of students for the CIMA professional certificate.
The Graduate School of Business will soon add more innovative programmes including MSc. and MPh. to its programme offerings. Its reach will soon be extended to other West African nations in terms of programme offerings and student and faculty recruitment. In addition, the Graduate School of Business is in active search for a permanent facility of its own in order to mount more of its programmes in a centralized location in Accra and Kumasi. Our expansion outside Ghana would be targeted at Liberia, Burkina Faso, and Senegal in the very near future.
Faculties of CBS
The undergraduate departments in the School are:
- Office of the Dean, CBS (Faculty Office)
- Department of Accounting, Banking and Finance
- Department of Human Resources Management and Management Studies
- Department of Marketing and Agribusiness
- Department of Information Communication Technology
Each of these departments is adequately resourced with competent needed members of the various faculties. With recent recruitments to be effective from 1st October 2008, the full-time teaching staff strength of the School stands at 65. The School also has a pool of accomplished practitioners who serve as adjunct faculty members. These will help in significantly reducing the student-faculty ratio of the School. There is a strategic plan in place to further reduce this ratio.
At the School, final year students are required to undertake industrial attachments. In addition students are given the choice to do a Long Essay, Case Studies, Business Game and Directed Private Studies.
The undergraduate departments of the CBS are headed by the following:
Department of Accounting, Banking and Finance
Head of department - Mr. John Norgah
B.Com, UCC; MBA(Finance),UG
Coordinator(Accounting) - Mr.John Ackon
B.Com ; ICA,Gh
Coordinator(Banking & Finance) - Mr.J.E.Tetteh
BA(Hons)Econs,UG; MBA(Finance) UG
Department of Human Resources Management and Management Studies
Head of department - Rev.Paa Ekow Quaye
Dip Th; BA(USA); MA; PhD (Fard)
Coordinator(HRM) - Mr. Victor Amedzo
BA; MBA;(HRM)UG
Coordinator(Management) - Mr. Freeman Osei-Tete
BA(Hons)UG;ICA(PatIII); MPA; M.Phil(Public Admin)
Department of Marketing and Agribusiness
Head of department - Mr. Gabriel Fafa Kofi Baku
BA(Econs)UG; Dip M(CIM-UK); MA(Mkt)UCE-Birmingham
Coordinator(Agric business) - Mr. Seth Blackie
Dip(Agric);Dip(Animal);MSc(Animal Prod);MPhil(Agric Admin)
Department of Information Communication Technology (Academic)
Head of department - Mr. Alwyn Amarteifio
Cert(Networking,Syst.Admin & Staging)UK; Postgraduate Diploma,Infosystems
(Netherland); Postgraduate Diploma,Strategic Management Infosystems(USA);
BSc Civil Engineering,KNUST
Directorate of Information Communication Technology (Technical)
Mr Benjamin Eshun (Miotso Main Campus)
Mr John Haizel-Commeh (Accra Campus)
Evening & Weekend Coordinator
Mrs. Patience Nelson
BSc (Admin) HRM; MBA (UCC)
Office of the Dean
The Office of the Dean of the CBS is a service centre for the Departments of the School. The office is resourced by the following members of staff;
- Prof Bill Buenar Puplampu ......................... Dean
- Mr. Worlanyo Afenyo ……………… Acting Faculty Officer;
- Ms. Mary Addo …..………Senior Admin Assist
- Mr Yao Atiase ………………….……..Office Assistant
