OLD SITE
The Southern Campus or Old Site is uniquely situated in the heart of the hilly settlements of “Apewosika”and “Kokoado” in the Cape Coast metropolis close to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, providing a daily comfortable sea breeze. The site sits on high ground above sea level providing a beautiful bird’s eye view of the ocean. The University’s Central Administration Block, the Adehye Hall only female hall of residence, the Atlantic Hall and the Oguaa Hall are located here.
Various useful university facilities providing service to the population beyond the university community are also situated on this side of campus. One of such facility is the University Hospital, which provides quality health care to members of the university community and the general public.
NEW SITE
The Northern Campus or New Site of the University of Cape Coast popularly referred to, as “Science” is located near Kwaprow and Amamoma communities, just about 1km away from the Old Site. The Northern Campus was established to meet the needs of the growing number of students admitted into to the university, as the University increasingly became the destination of choice for a lot of high school graduates from across the country and beyond. Being a recently developed campus, the new site is home to everything new you would find on campus; good roads, shopping centres, and modern structures, among others.
The University’s only male hall, Casley Hayford Hall, Kwame Nkrumah Hall), Valco hall and the Campus Broadcasting Centre are all located here. The area is popularly referred to as “Science” because it is the location of the science building complex. Also located on the new site campus is the University garden, where flowers, ornamentals, shrubs and trees have been planted with a carefully designed plan that creates such a natural atmosphere for the leisure of both residents and visitors.
The University’s Zoo, which houses a wide variety of animals, is also located here, so is the University’s main library which is the biggest repository of documented knowledge that you would find anywhere on this side of the country.
Various structures of tourist value, including Castles, Forts and other relics of Ghana’s colonial masters are located nearby, providing a wide variety of options for entertainment and leisure. The campus is still being developed with new infrastructure springing up on yearly basis. Notable among such developments is the new central administration block which is almost complete.
Halls of Residence
There are six Halls of Residence located on campus. Every student of the university is affiliated to one of these halls. Per the university’s accommodation policy, all first year students are guaranteed places in the Halls of Residence as well as a few continuing students who are sports men and women, Cadet Officers and JCRC executive members.
Hostels
There are a lot of students’ hostels available to absorb the continuing students who are not resident in the halls. A lot of these hostels are located within campus and are generally well integrated within the university community. Some of these hostels are privately owned while others are run by the university. They come in quadruple, triple, double and single occupancies depending on one’s budget. There are self-contained rooms as well as rooms using shared facilities.
Useful Facilities
Library
The University Library System comprises the Main Library, Faculty Libraries, Departmental Libraries and Hall Libraries. These are of varying sizes, content and service and are distributed across the campus.
Staff and students of the University are allowed to use the library for reference and borrowing purposes. The Main Library, Sam Jonah Library, offers a diverse and innovative range of products and services to cater for the need of every user. The library subscribes to electronic resources through the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries of Ghana (CALIGH).
Banking
There are major banks situated on campus to enable staff and students to conduct financial transactions with ease. Some of these banks are the GCB Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, Prudential Bank, Zenith Bank and Pro Credit.
Bookshop
Students can purchase books and general stationery from the various bookshops on campus. Two of the major ones are the Kingdom Books and Stationery Shop and EPP Bookshop located at the old site and new site respectively.
Restaurants and Eateries
UCC offers a variety of restaurants and eateries which serve various local and continental dishes. Prices at the various restaurants range from 8 to 20 Ghana Cedis while cheaper options are available at the various campus markets where one can get a full meal at the cost of GH ¢4.00.
ATL market, Nkrumah Market, Deep Dish, Bush Canteen and Bush canteen are some of the major markets on campus where one can buy groceries as well as general household items.
The University also operates VOTEC Restaurant in the Old Assembly Hall building, Sasakawa Restaurant in the Sasakawa Guest, SRC Snack Bar around the Large Lecture Theatre, Institute of Education Restaurant in the Institute of Education Guest House, and School of Business Restaurant in the School of Business Guest House.
Healthcare
The Directorate of University Health Services is made up of the Hospital and the Environmental Health Section. The Hospital was initially meant to cater for the health needs of staff, their dependents and students. Currently, it serves these primary target groups as well as the general public especially the surrounding communities. The bed capacity of the Hospital is eighty (80).
The Environmental Health Section handles all environmentally related hygiene practices including cleaning, dislodging of faecal waste, spraying and fumigation services.
Post Office
The University’s Post Office is located in the Central Administration block at the old site. Services offered include sending and receiving of letters, money transfer, services and the sale of stationery as well as desktop publishing services.
Places of Worship
The University, as an equal opportunity institution maintains religious harmony among staff and students. The university respects and upholds the rights of members within its community to their spiritual growth. As a result, there are places of worship on campus for the main religious groups. The University encourages dialogue and cooperation among the various religious groups in order to promote respect and tolerance.
Recreational & Social Activities
The University recognises the fact that a balance between academic pursuit and recreation most often than not results in the development of quality human resource for any nation. The University of Cape Coast therefore places greater emphasis on extra curricula activities and has created an environment that fosters greater interaction among students and provides ample opportunities for them to engage in useful social activities for fun as well as personal development. This provides some of the most memorable experiences for students throughout their stay at the university.
Hall Week Celebrations
All the traditional Halls of Residence engage in a week-long celebration each academic year. These celebrations are considered to be the high points of the fun side of students’ life.
They are organised by the Junior Common Room Committees (JCRCs) of the various halls. Activities include musical concerts, fashion shows, career development seminars, food and general goods bazaar, clean up exercises, community outreach programmes and many other activities. These celebrations usher in a buzz of great excitement on campus and afford great opportunities to strengthen solidarity and interaction among members of the halls.
Other celebrations include, SRC Week Celebrations, Ladies Week and Departmental Week Celebrations.
Home Coming
Home coming activities are organised by the Halls of Residence and departments within the faculties for some accomplished alumni in society to interact with students. This offers great networking and mentoring opportunities.
Stage Plays
Each semester, students have the opportunity to watch plays staged by students of the Department of Theatre and Film Studies. These plays range from works by world acclaimed writers to experimental works by students. The plays provide invaluable experiences for the students.
Sports
Sporting activities are an integral part of the university’s educational philosophy and policy which many students are encouraged to engage in. There are many sporting competitions held every semester such as the fresher’s games which is a competition held for freshmen to unearth sporting talents for the various teams in the university. The inter-hall sporting competition is another major competition held to engage the various halls in a healthy rivalry for laurels and bragging rights.
These competitions which are usually held in an atmosphere of great fun and excitement, afford a great opportunity for social interactions within the university community. Sporting activities include athletics, football, basketball, volley, handball, tennis etc. Apart from these internal competitions, the university also participates in external sporting activities at the national and international levels.
The university also trains students to become physical education instructors under its Bachelor of Education in Health, Physical Education and Recreation programme. This programme has been very instrumental in producing quality human resource to drive the growth of sports and physical education in Ghana.
Transportation
The main means for getting around campus is through the university operated shuttles. These shuttles are stationed at vantage points and ply routes leading to academic and residential facilities.
There are also taxis, which transport people from campus to the Cape Coast township. There are two major taxi stations on campus. One is located at the old site and the other at the new site.
pictures subject to copyright
source: UCC
BY : Akomapatrendz
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