Band up for development – Minister of Education to ACE impact universities

The Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, has encouraged the nine (9) Centers of Excellence for Development Impact (ACE Impact) to focus on collaboration as a key factor in making postgraduate education and applied research more attractive.

Speaking at a short ceremony to sign the Performance and Funding Agreement for the Africa Centers of Excellence, the Minister indicated that, it was no hidden knowledge that the universities hosting the programme were competitive. But urged them to put their differences aside and work together.

“We know you are all trying to outdo each other, but I urge you to work together as a team and assist each other to grow. The programme is to aid economic growth in Ghana and your combined efforts can help us achieve this goal.”

He also encouraged the representatives for the various centers to look out for funding from other sources to support their centers.

The Africa Centers of Excellence Project was launched by the World Bank in 2014 for West and Central African countries. Three (3) of the tewnty-two (22) or so Regional Centers of Excellence are in Ghana, hosted by the University of Ghana (UG) (2 Centers) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) (1 Center). Each of these Centers benefitted from funding of up to USD 8 million for the project duration of 5 years. But today, the centers have been increased to nine (9). Now, Ghana is to host six (6) new centers across the country in University of Development Studies (UDS), the University of Education and Natural Resources (UENR), University of Cape Coast (UCC) two (2) additional centers in KNUST and an additional one in UG.