Prof. Ayee is Deputy Vice Chancellor of KwaZulu Natal varsity

Page 11: Daily Graphic, December 9, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
PROFESSOR Joseph R. A. Ayee has been appointed the Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in South Africa.
He is also to head the College of Humanities of the UKZN, effective January 1, 2010 for five years, after which he will be appointed as permanent staff of the university to the post of Professor in the School of Politics for another three years.
Prof. Ayee is the immediate past Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon, a position he held from April 2002 to July this year. He was also the head of the Department of Political Science from 1995-2000.
Regarded as an accomplished teacher in Public Administration and Public Policy, Prof. Ayee scooped the University of Ghana 2006 Best Teacher Award in Humanities and elected Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in December 2005.
As the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of the college, Prof. Ayee will be leading the academic and research strategy and realising the academic mandate of the university.
He will also be responsible for the strategic, financial and risk planning and the successful governance and management of the university, in line with its vision, mission and goals.
In addition, Prof. Ayee, as part of his executive management duties, will assist the Vice Chancellor in terms of the day-to-day management and administration of the university and deputise for the Vice Chancellor as and when necessary.
At the college level, he will oversee the implementation of institutional strategic plan, focusing on the key areas of research, scholarship, teaching and community engagement.
Prof.Ayee is a member of the African Association of Public Administration and Management, the Policy Studies Association, the African Association of Political Science and a Fellow of the Ghana Institute of Management.
He ventured into academia as a teaching assistant (TA) at the University of Ghana’s Department of Political Science in 1979, before he climbed up the academic ladder.
Prof. Ayee obtained his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem after obtaining his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Public Administration, both from the University of Ghana, Legon.
While based at the University of Ghana for most of his academic career, Prof. Ayee had lectured at two other African universities, the College of Administration in Socket, Nigeria, in 1982 and the University of Swaziland in 1987.
Prof. Ayee has made his mark as an academic and scholar after successfully publishing 144 peer reviewed journal articles and 12 books, including, “An Anatomy of Public Policy Implementation: The Case of Decentralisation Policies in Ghana”; “Decentralisation and Conflict: The Case of District Chief Executives and Members of Parliament in Ghana” and “Some Thoughts on Ministerial Reshuffles in Ghana”.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on his new appointment, Prof. Ayee said he rated his appointment as Chair in Leadership Studies at the UNESCO/United Nations University Leadership Academy in 2000 as his best leadership success.
He said training and development of staff within the College of Humanities, aimed at increasing human resource capacity, would be a priority when he moves to the UKZN.
According to him, “I intend to make the college a better place of excellence in African scholarship and learning”.
Prof. Ayee said his vision was to lead the college to produce the kinds of relevant teaching and research that would make its disciplines and programmes the best of their types on African scholarship in the world.
“Some of the strategies to achieve the vision include the rationalisation of some units, review of programme offerings for relevance, articulation, enhancement and elimination as well as encouraging research through staff and graduate training,” he said.
The UKZN is the third largest university in South Africa, with a student population of 45,000 spread over five campuses.