Training Workshop for Administrative Assistants in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Held

The office of the College Registrar, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) organized a two- day Capacity Building Training workshop for Administrative Assistants in the College on Tuesday, 11th and Wednesday 12th May, 2021 on the Theme ‘’Strengthening Office Management for improved Productivity’’

The Workshop addressed issues such as confidentiality, legal implications of administrative work, documents filing, record keeping, functions and duties of Administrative Assistants, conduct of meetings and minutes writing and updates on new secretarial trends in university administration.

In his opening remarks, the Provost of the College, Professor Ben Banful, welcomed the participants and said that the workshop was part of the College’s efforts to strengthen the capacity of her human resource as outlined in the College’s strategies to implement the thematic action plan of the Vice-Chancellor’s vision on Human Resource Development.

Prof. Banful stated that given the position of the Administrative Assistants in the University’s structure, it was only appropriate to commence the human resource capacity building from their level. Concluding his address, Prof. Banful encouraged the participants to actively participate in the programme to fully benefit from the workshop.

Speaking on the topic “Legal implications of administrative work”, Ms. Lucy Diawuo, a legal expert and Deputy Registrar at the office of the Dean of Students, stressed that as the first point of contact in any Office in the University, the Administrative Assistant played a critical role in the administration of the procedures and practices of the Administrative management of the University. To this end, she strongly advised the Administrative Assistants to be very confidential in the conduct of their duties since confidentiality was a key part of the ethics of the profession of an Administrator. Citing a few examples, Ms. Lucy Diawuo, indicated how the circulation of Official information on social media had cost the University in the law courts and resulted in the dismissal of the perpetrators. In her conclusion, Ms. Diawuo advised the participants to expedite action on any documents they received in their offices to prevent any possible damages to the University if legal issues were to arise.

The College Registrar, Mrs. Juliana Serwaa Andoh, also made a presentation on the topic “The Role of the Administrative Assistant in the Workings of University”. Her presentation focused on records keeping, filing of documents, conduct of meeting and minutes writing at the Departmental, Faculty, and College level as well as attitude towards work. She advised them to be diligent in the execution of their functions as they represented the face of the offices they found themselves.

On the presentation on the topic “Contemporary skills of University Administrators”, Mrs. Andoh underscored the paramount role of such skills and urged the participants to particularly take their digital skills seriously in order to stay relevant at all times.

In closing the workshop, Mrs. Andoh, the College Registrar, expressed appreciation for the professionalism so far exhibited by the participants in administering their duties and urged them continue while exploring other alternative ways to improve their capacity and performance.