We welcome you to our website and the launch of the Centre for African and International Studies (CAIS), Faculty of Arts, UCC. This new Centre is the result of years of hard work and planning to ensure we offer some exciting and pertinent undergraduate and postgraduate courses in African and International Studies. These unique courses within the CAIS place Africa at the centre of its approach to the study of International issues to ensure a more African-centred perspective in our delivery. The Centre is devoted to quality undergraduate and postgraduate courses and to undertake academic research into both national and international policies within the context of the global economy. The establishment of the CAIS at this time in Africa's history and development helps to place the Centre strategically as a specialist area, able to give future advice and research consultancy on policy issues in respect of internationally significant institutions such as the European Union, the UN, World Bank and regional bodies or institutions like ECOWAS and NEPAD. This, therefore, enables UCC to be at the forefront in the formulation of African-based positions and policies in response to issues affecting Ghana specifically, and the African continent more generally. For this reason, the postgraduate courses in the International Studies Programme will focus on four broad areas of African Diaspora, Globalisation, Regionalism and Understanding Contemporary Africa.
The CAIS is situated between two internationally renowned former slave castles which provide a unique opportunity to revisit, re-examine and document schorlarly material pertaining to the trans-Atlantic slave trade as it emanated from Ghana. Furthermore, the Centre provides opportunities to engage in important research concerning the African Diaspora in the Americas, Asia and Europe which were formed as a result of the slave trade. Migration and Diaspora studies are important themes in the contemporary globalised world and the Centre places UCC at the very heart of such crucial areas of academic pursuit. The centre is cognisant of the fact that Africa's history, politics, society and culture are all inter-linked and that this necessitates a multidisciplinary and eclectic approach to our understanding of Africa both before and since the Second World War. Because of the multidisciplinary approach that is used to study Africa and other regions of the world, the CAIS is able to attract lecturers from a wide range of academic backgrounds and interests which provides a rich mosaic of courses for students.Students are able to understand the experiences and roles of African countries within the wider global context. On behalf of the CAIS, I would like to once again welcome you to our website and hope you will find the information useful. Please feel free to contact us should you have any questions, queries or comments.