Brief History

The Department of Political Science Education was part of the Department of Social Science Education that was established in 2005 as a unified Social Science Department where programmes in economics, geography, history and political science education are offered. Initially students combined two of the subjects as their areas of study for the B. Ed (Social Science Education) degree. In the bid to satisfy national aspirations and recommendations from stakeholders, the programme was reviewed to include more content courses while the expected degree upon successful completion was changed to B.A. (Social Science Education). The Department currently has over 1200 students while interest in its programmes continues to grow.

In order to accommodate the expected growth, the Department since its inception has been planning toward an eventual split into substantive departments of Economics, History, Geography and Political Science. This has therefore been factored into its strategic plan as a major objective, and in pursuit of that the Department has recruited a number of well-qualified lecturers who would become the core staff for the new departments.

After seven and half years of existence as a unified social science department, it is apparent that the time has come for the creation of new departments out of the existing one

Mission

The Department of Political Science Education aims to advance the human resources capacity of the nation by inculcating in its products the requisite academic proficiency and professional competence.

Vision Statement

The Department of Political Science Education is committed to contributing its quota to the efforts of ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, to sustain its position as an internationally reputable institution for teacher education. As a result of the rapid political changes in Ghana and the International system, the need for a clearer understanding of political ideas and issues of governance is more pressing. This is evident in the Ghana Education Service’s introduction of the study of Government as a subject in the school curriculum and also the growing interest of students in politics and its related studies at the university level. The Department of Political Science Education provides an opportunity for students seeking to pursue such knowledge and training to become professional teachers of international reputation.

REASONS FOR SPLITTING THE DEPARTMENT

Many compelling reasons for the splitting of the Department have emerged during its short history. The most enduring ones are the following:

Meeting International Standards:Ìý

Social science faculties all over the world have autonomous departments based on the various social science subjects. There is therefore a pressing need to conform to international standards in order to position the faculty as a competitive one in the country and elsewhere by establishing similar departments.

Demand for Study Places:Ìý

The demand for study places at the Department of Social Science Education increases every year. According to statistics from the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵDivision of Academic Affairs, 919 and 1,128 applications were received for the BA (Social Science Education) programme for the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 academic years respectively. This huge demand places the courses offered by the Department as the second most popular in the University, after B.Sc. (Accounting) offered at the Kumasi Campus. On campus by campus basis the social science programme is by far the most popular at the Winneba campus. In spite of this huge demand, the quota granted by the University was only 200 (21.8%) and 240 (21.3%) of the qualified applicants for the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 academic years respectively. It is evident from the statistics that the potential of the department in attracting students to the University has not been fully exploited since an unnecessarily high number of qualified applications are turned away every year.

Demand for Programmes in the Substantive Subjects:

 The very high demand for places discussed above arises from the high public interest in the individual subjects – economics, history, geography and political science – offered in the Department. On a daily basis, we get enquiries from people regarding the establishment of programmes of study in those subjects. Clearly, the high demand for the current omnibus degree in social science would easily translate into demand for programmes in the individual subjects.

Demand for Postgraduate Programmes:

Again the Department is inundated with enquiries and demand for masters and doctoral programmes in economics, geography, history and political science rather than for a composite masters or doctoral programme in social science. Since advanced degrees engender research and scholarship, establishing masters and doctoral programmes in the various social science subjects, as it exists elsewhere, would greatly enhance the image of the University.

Objectives

• Prepare graduates to teach government at the Pre-tertiary levels of education. 
• Imbue students with the capacity for a critical understanding of political issues through the mounting of relevant courses
• Provide service courses in the subject to students in other disciplines in the University so as to acquaint them with the subject matter of Political Science.
• Conduct relevant research to promote scholarship in the University
• Encourage the production of textbooks for use in courses taught in the department, and elsewhere.
• Offer relevant services to the non-university community as part of the University’s outreach programme to society at large.