Kumasi, Sept. 01, GNA – Professor Mrs Rita Akosua Dickson, Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has said the institution was focused on providing the needed quality education to underpin Ghana’s aspirations of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“The University believes that knowledge, research and awareness creation are vital to broadly realize the set targets under the Goals,” she said.
Consequently, the KNUST in pursuance of its vision and mission, she said, had over the years rolled out various programmes and courses to reflect the current development trends.
These included renewable energy, clean water and sanitation, gender equality, innovations in the agricultural, health and engineering sectors, as well as technology, infrastructural development and climate change.
Prof Mrs Dickson, in a speech read on her behalf at the opening of the Ninth KNUST Summer School (Senior Staff Session) in Kumasi, said the authorities would continue to work with stakeholders to proffer workable solutions to the prevailing challenges confronting humanity.
“SDGs and Universities: Actions towards KNUST’s Mandate at 70 and Beyond”, is the theme chosen for the four-day programme, which has been decentralized to cover Senior Members, Senior and Junior Staff
A concept note provided by the Planning Committee said the programme was being organized in collaboration with the University’s partners in Germany and Clean-Africa e.V., an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).
The focus is to bring academicians, researchers, experts and individuals from multidisciplinary backgrounds together to deliberate on how to work together to achieve the SDGs.
For the first time since the school’s inception in 2011, it is being held with a mix of both in-person and online sessions designed to enhance larger participation globally, with foreign nationals from more than 11 countries joining the deliberations.
Topics being discussed encompass a wide range of issues relating to the SDGs, including ‘Strategies for Identifying Opportunities, Gaps and Priorities within the SDGs for a College/Unit’, ‘Strategies for Making SDG a Reality in the College/Units’, and ‘SDGs and Universities: Actions toward Achieving KNUST’s Mandate at 70 and Beyond’.
The rest are ‘What are the SDGs and How is the World Responding to Them?’, as well as ‘How Can We Use the SDG Framework to Improve and Showcase What We Currently Do?’.
Prof Mrs Dickson expressed optimism that the participants would acquire new knowledge on the SDGs to improve the quality of education in Ghana.
“This year’s School will be fascinating as we engage in hands-on exercises to implement the Goals in our work,” she stated.
Mrs Matilda Marful, Executive-Director, Clean-Africa e.V., said her organization was hopeful that “this collaboration will translate into research activities and tangible projects as part of the quest towards the Global Development Agenda.”
Prof Jerry John Kponyo, Head of Quality Assurance and Planning Unit, KNUST, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), on the sideline of the programme, hinted that interest in the school had grown over the years, with attendance increasing from 250 in 2011 to 4, 680 in 2018.
“We believe that this new knowledge will enhance teaching, research and service delivery at KNUST. It will also provide staff with the needed tools to respond positively to the needs of society,” he noted.
GNA