ERIC NYARKO-SAMPSON, PhD, a Professor of Guidance and Counselling, had his initial teacher training education at Komenda College (now Komenda College of Education). He is the Founding Dean, Faculty of Educational Foundations, College of Education Studies, University of Cape Coast, having served in various capacities such as Senior Administrative Assistant, Head of Department, Vice Dean, in the university before then. He holds a Bachelor of Education (Psychology), Master of Philosophy (Guidance & Counselling), and Master of Arts (Human Resource Management), from the University of Cape Coast. He also has a Final Professional Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Administrators & Management Consultants, Ghana, and Doctor of Philosophy degree in Educational Guidance and Counselling, from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria.
He teaches courses and serves as facilitator at national and international workshops in counselling, human resource management and organisational behaviour and change. His research interests include career counselling, school counselling, teacher education, issues in multiculturalism, and entrepreneurial education. Eric’s major research focuses on career counselling, school counselling, and the implementation and evaluation of counselling services at all levels in Ghana’s educational institutions. His studies also investigate entrepreneurship as an alternative to building careers among the teeming youth, and thereby tackling the age-old issue of youth unemployment. He is a member of teams researching on issues in teacher education. He has supervised and turned out a host of postgraduate students at the MPhil and PhD levels.
As Chairman of Ghana’s National Teaching Council, Eric leads the agency of the Ministry of Education in major reforms nationwide in the teaching profession to uphold the standards of teaching by the provision of a quality assurance process to support the delivery of education in pre-tertiary institutions in a professional and competent manner by licensed teachers who have graduated from a recognized teacher training programme.
He is a licensed and a certified counsellor, and a member of Accreditation and CPD Committee of the Ghana Psychology Council. As a member of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NTCE), he serves on the Academic and Technical Committees. Eric has chaired, and served as member of committees to work various on improving the tertiary education landscape in the country. He also represents the University of Cape Coast on the university’s affiliate institutions; university colleges and colleges of education. A Local Preacher of the Methodist Church Ghana, Eric is a member of both national and international professional bodies.