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The Governing Council of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) will on Thursday, August 12, 2014, confer honorary doctorate degree on former President Jerry John Rawlings and two others for their sterling and valuable contributions in the development of their respective countries. The former President is being honored for his passion and love for education, his bold decision to convert the former Specialist Teacher Training institute at Winneba into a fully fledge university, and also the roles he played in the transformation of the nation�s educational sector during his tenure as President. The other recipients are former Nigerian President, General Abdulsalami Abubakar and Professor Jophus Anamuah Mensah, former vice chancellor of the University. General Abdulsalami Abubakar is being honored for the exemplary leadership role he played as being a military ruler to have voluntarily handed over power to a democratically elected government in 1999, and also his contribution to ensuring that the Federal Republic of Nigeria stayed on the course of democracy during his tenure as Head of State. On the other hand, Professor Anamuah Mensah, under whose tenure as Principal the institute was transformed into a university, is being recognized for his immense role in the affairs of the then college of education to gain full university status, and also as the first vice chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba. The award ceremony, which began yesterday with a lecture by General Abdulsalami Abubakar on the theme �sustaining democratic excellence in educational leadership for accelerated national development�, according to UEW authorities, will seek to find practical solutions to the current challenges facing the educational sector in Ghana. The College of education was established in September 1992 under PNDC Law 322, and later upgraded to the status of a university on the enactment of the University of Education Act, Act 2004. It currently has a student population of about 20000 and staffing population of 1, 446 with satellite campuses across the country and 21 Distant Education Learning centers. Former President Rawlings has received multiple honorary doctorate degrees, with the most recent one from the University for Development Studies for his role in establishing that school. Earlier attempt by UDS to honor the former President in March 2005 was scuttled by the Kufuor administration under then chancellor, Charles Daniel Gyimah. Apart from the bold political decision by Mr Rawlings to establish the university, he also took personal interest in its welfare by donating part of his Hunger Project cash prize of $50, 000, as seed money for the university.