The Kennesaw State University, Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States of America is to establish a Centre of Excellence in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST. This was made known by a Three-Man Delegation from the University.
The Centre when completed would be a world class Centre of Excellence to promote the teaching, learning and research among staff, students and the international community.
The Three Man-Delegation was made up of the Vice Provost, Barry Morris, Coordinator of African Partnerships, Ikechukwu Ukeje, and the Graduate
Dean and Vice President for Research, Charles J. Amlither.
The Leader of the Delegation and Vice Provost, Barry Morris said the Kennesaw University which is ranked among the top five universities in Georgia is noted for excellence and innovation in science education as well as other disciplines in the area of mathematics and business.
Barry Morris said his outfit has the needed capacity to ensure that the proposed ideas become a reality, this is because his University has rigorous structures that has ensured the success of their University. Also they recognize global engagements and the need for capacity building of African Universities to encourage exchanges between Africa and other parts of the world in order to reverse the current trends in education.
This, to him, would help build the capacities of lecturers and students as well as make education attractive to the rest of the world.
The Graduate Dean and Vice President for Research, Charles J. Amlither, noted that deliberations are ongoing with the World Bank and International institutions such as Shell Oil, IBM, Microsoft, among others to help in this regard.
Coordinator of African Partnerships, Ikechukwu Ukeje, noted that Centres of Excellence are essential to every institution and for that matter three others would be built at different locations in the country. He said the delegation has held discussions with the Ministry of Education on the possible adoption of the components of the proposal by the ministry. In West Africa, Ghana and Nigeria have been chosen for this project.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. William Otoo Ellis commended the delegation for the proposed project. He however added that, KNUST has thought of embarking on a similar project as an academic institution and lauded their efforts. Prof. Ellis noted that due to certain constraints, the University is not able to meet all the needs of students, there is therefore the need to build capacity of the students in their fields.
Prof. Ellis stated that he was also pleased with the consortium aspect of the program which would encourage research and knowledge sharing among experts to broaden the scope of their knowledge and their contributions to the international community.
