The IEPA Student Research and Innovation Expo 2016 offered a platform for both graduate and post-graduate students of the University of Cape Coast to showcase their research findings, innovation and creativity. The Expo is a forum for students to present their original work to members of the University Community and the general public. This annual event will demonstrate the results of student research, scholarship and creative activities inside and outside of the classroom. Prof Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, the Provost of the College of Education Studies, in his opening address emphasized the importance of creativity and innovation in our times. He appreciated the initiative by IEPA in mounting this Expo and hoped that this will spur others on into coming up with more creative and innovative research. On his part, the Pro Vice-Chancellor-Prof. G. K. T. Oduro, who deputized for the Vice-Chancellor as the special guest of honor, conveyed the Vice-Chancellor’s appreciation of this initiative to the gathering. He recounted that the IEPA was born at a time when the Ministry of Education (MoE) and for that matter Ghana was finding it difficult to get planners and administrators to handle educational issues in the country. UNESCO created the opportunity to address this challenge leading to the birth of IEPA. Since its inception IEPA has been influencing educational policies through research. Prof. Oduro cited the Leadership for Learning, an in-service training program for headteachers adopted by the MoE, as one example. Prof Oduro further stressed the need for letting the public know of what UCC does. He appealed to the dean of graduate studies to ensure that all graduate students participated in subsequent Expos. In ending his address Prof Oduro expressed his delight in IEPA adopting poster presentation as a means of disseminating research findings, a phenomenon that is not common in Ghanaian universities.
