Dr. Paul Kwadwo Addo, an education specialist, scholar-practitioner and senior university administrator at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, has been appointed Foundation Registrar of the University of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences, Bunso.

Dr. Addo currently serves as Deputy Registrar and College Registrar at the College of Engineering, KNUST, and is also Adjunct at the level of Associate Professor at the Faculty of Educational Studies, KNUST.

His appointment places him at the centre of the administrative and institutional development of the newly established university, where he is expected to provide strategic leadership in governance, administration and institutional systems development.

Dr. Addo brings more than 25 years of professional experience in education delivery, educational management and higher education administration across both pre-tertiary and tertiary education in Ghana.

A defining feature of his career has been his role in establishing and supporting new academic and administrative structures within higher education institutions.

At KNUST, he served as Foundation Head of Department for Institutional Planning at the Quality Assurance and Planning Office, where he contributed to institutional planning systems, policy development and quality assurance processes. He later became the Foundation Faculty Registrar of the Faculty of Educational Studies at KNUST from 2019 to 2021, providing administrative leadership during the establishment and early development of the faculty.

In that role, he supported the implementation of the new Bachelor of Education curriculum in Colleges of Education affiliated to KNUST and contributed to the development of postgraduate and professional programmes, including M.Ed, MPhil, PhD and EdD programmes.

Dr. Addo also served as Foundation Deputy Director-General in charge of Administration and General Services at the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA), a UNESCO Category II Centre of Excellence for West Africa at the University of Cape Coast, between October 2020 and February 2022. He additionally served as National Coordinator for the pilot phase of the Educational Leadership Development Programme for Ghana’s Ministry of Education from August 2022 to December 2024.

His latest appointment adds to a growing record of leadership in building and shaping emerging institutions and academic structures within Ghana’s higher education sector.

Before joining the College of Engineering, Dr. Addo worked at the Quality Assurance and Planning Unit at KNUST from 2009 to 2019 as Assistant Registrar and later Senior Assistant Registrar. He subsequently became Head of the Planning and Policy Department from 2022 to 2023. During this period, he contributed to the drafting of several institutional policies relating to quality assurance, peer review of teaching, admissions, ethics and policy development procedures.

He also helped develop systems for institutional performance measurement, including assessment frameworks for Provosts, Deans and Heads of Department, performance management systems, departmental rankings and teaching evaluations aimed at strengthening institutional effectiveness.

Academically, Dr. Addo holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and an Education Specialist degree from Pensacola Christian College in Florida, United States. He also earned a Master’s degree in Educational Administration and Management and a Bachelor of Education in Agricultural Science from the University of Education, Winneba. Additionally, he holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Public Administration from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.

He is an accredited member of the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana (IPR) and previously served as Test Administration Secretary at the National Board for Professional and Technician Examinations, Ghana, from 2006 to 2009. He also served as Deputy Registrar in charge of Student Affairs from January 2023 to November 2025.

Over the years, Dr. Addo has participated in several international professional development programmes in quality assurance, higher education administration, test development, online teaching and public relations through institutions in Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

He has also served on numerous university and national committees and contributed to the development of Ghana’s Bachelor of Education curriculum under the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) programme, supported by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Research and scholarly contributions

Beyond university administration, Dr. Addo has built a reputation as a researcher and scholar with interests in educational leadership, quality assurance, higher education management, curriculum development and institutional effectiveness.

His research has focused on improving teaching, learning, governance and institutional performance in universities. He has studied issues including quality assurance systems, human resource management, educational leadership, student participation in university governance and performance management in higher education institutions.

Dr. Addo has also undertaken studies on risk management and policy implementation in universities, examining how educational leaders can translate institutional policies into practice and strengthen accountability systems. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he collaborated on research into online teaching and learning, institutional risk management, student experiences and the changing role of university administrators in Ghana.

His work further explores educational reforms and leadership in developing countries, particularly how policies influence educational access, governance and institutional development. He has also contributed to studies on inclusive education, community engagement and virtual learning systems in higher education.

As part of his academic work, Dr. Addo served on the National Quality Assurance Working Group, which secured support from the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) to undertake a study on quality assurance practices in higher education in Ghana. He also contributed to research supported by the KNUST Research Fund (KReF), including studies examining curriculum development processes for national development.

In addition to his publications, he has served as a reviewer and editor for several academic journals and presented papers at international conferences on educational management, policy analysis, quality assurance and institutional leadership.

Dr. Addo continues to contribute to higher education development in Ghana through academic supervision and external assessment roles. He currently serves as an external assessor for about 10 public universities in Ghana, supporting academic quality assurance, promotions and institutional evaluation processes. He is also supervising about 20 postgraduate students pursuing various research degrees.