As part of its efforts in equipping the human resource of the University for effective performance, the Quality Assurance and Planning Unit (QAPU) of the Vice-Chancellor's Office in collaboration with the Human Resource Development Division, has opened the first KNUST Summer School for all senior staff members. The event is on the theme, Equipping Staff for Leading Change in Academia. The summer school which is scheduled between 8th and 12th August, 2011 aims to enhance the competence of staff on hands-on experiences in writing winnable proposals, perceptive knowledge of University systems and the ability to plan and do research for publications in refereed journals.
In his welcome address, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor William O. Ellis recounted the outstanding achievement of the University in recent years in the world university ranking where KNUST placed first (1st) in Ghana and thirteenth (13th) in Africa. He bequeathed this noble achievement to all staff of the University and encouraged the enforcement of excellent codes of ethics and the adoption of modern trends of teaching to reflect the University’s golden era in history. Professor Otoo Ellis indicated that it is his vision to rejuvenate the University’s postgraduate programmes and refocus on research units to deliver high quality research and services in their core areas. He reechoed that KNUST is one of the best universities in the world therefore efforts should be geared towards upholding its identity and achievements.
The Dean of the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resource, Professor William Oduro, took the participants through the first phase of the workshop by touching on the areas of pre-proposal writing, developing proposal concept papers, writing proposals, and criterion used in assessing proposals. The participants were also taken through the implementation and sustainability of projects after winning proposals, among others.
The 5-day workshop would be used to expose the staff on various topical issues, including: ethics of research and publication, the development of research agenda in the humanities, effective supervision for better output, effective summarization of thesis to publications among others.
There would also be open forums for each session of the workshop which would be moderated by the heads of QAPU.
