The International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada, has undertaken an institutional visit to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi (KNUST), as part of an assessment exercise aimed at strengthening partnerships and enhancing grant management systems.

Mr. Hussein El Hajj, Manager of Grant Administration at IDRC, explained that the visit is intended to assess the university’s financial and administrative capacity, identify opportunities for capacity building, and strengthen institutional relationships.

“This assessment visit will help us determine the terms and conditions of the grant agreements that we have with the university,” he noted.

Mr. El Hajj emphasized the importance of building direct relationships with university leadership, noting that such engagements go beyond routine interactions between project teams and grant officers.

“This is an opportunity to establish stronger relationships and to better understand our grantees and the environment in which they operate,” he said.

He also commended the university’s systems and research impact adding that he was impressed by the scale of the campus and the hospitality experienced during his first visit to Ghana.

“We appreciate the great work that the university is doing to impact the environment and the community. From the documents submitted, the university seems to have very rigid policies, procedures, internal controls which is always good to have,” he added.

Director of the Office of Grants and Research (OGR) at KNUST, Prof. Jerry John Kponyo, noted that while institutions routinely submit documentation for due diligence during grant applications, such visits provide a more comprehensive understanding of institutional systems.

“IDRC as an institution comes to the various institutions they fund to have a first-hand information with reference to how the systems are, so that they can appreciate how things are done,” he explained.

The Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Professor Rita Akosua Dickson, reaffirmed the university’s commitment to impactful research.

“As a university with a focus on research intensiveness, we are very much interested in ensuring that whatever support we receive are used to impact humanity through the research that we do,” she stated.

She emphasized that KNUST places high value on accountability and transparency in managing research funds.

“Under no circumstances will KNUST not be accountable. We will give you the right stewardship of any drop of funds that comes into this university,” she stressed.

Prof. Dickson further expressed appreciation to IDRC for the visit and noted that such engagements provide valuable opportunities for transparency, collaboration, and continuous improvement.