The Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra-Leone, Her Excellency Shlomit Sufa has paid her first visit to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson together with some members of the University Management received her on Tuesday, 29th March 2022 at the Council Chamber.
Her Excellency explained that the Embassy, in addition to forging and deepening relationships, has established MASHAV, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Agency for International Development Cooperation, which manages the State of the Israel's global development and cooperation programs in developing countries. She emphasised MASHAV's 'Training of Trainers' strategy, which aims to ensure social, economic, and environmental sustainability while implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). MASHAV, she explained, has worked with Ghana for the past 60 years and created many trainers, including the Manager of Darko Farms, using this system.
Her Excellency, Sufa alluded to the Embassy's decision to construct a Maker Centre in Ghana in collaboration with Make Lab. A Maker Space, she explained, is a multidisciplinary innovation and development workspace that uses high-tech equipment for making, learning, exploring, and sharing.
Professor (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson, the Vice-Chancellor, stated that KNUST, as Ghana's foremost scientific and technology institution, values partnerships that aid in the development of holistic future leaders for the world. She reaffirmed KNUST's intention to instil 21st-century skills in students to make them employers and marketable, therefore welcoming the Maker Space concept.
The Acting Dean of the International Programmes Office (IPO), Professor Daniel Y. A. Duah disclosed that KNUST currently does not have any Memorandum of Understanding with any Israeli University. He further called on the Ambassador to facilitate partnerships between KNUST and Israeli Universities in agriculture and health to encourage student-staff exchange programmes and joint research programmes.