Pix: Prof. (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson – VC, KNUST
THE KWAME Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has secured the topmost position as the leading institution worldwide in the provision of quality education in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4.
KNUST’s recognition was announced in the 2023 Times Higher Education (THE) Impact ranking in June 2023.
The ranking by THE was based on impartial assessment across four vital domains of research, stewardship, outreach and teaching having considered 1,591 universities from 112 countries with KNUST scoring 93.1 to secure the topmost position.
The feat is a marked improvement of KNUST’s ranking in 2022, when it secured the 14th position in the world and the top ranked university in Africa.
Prof. (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson, Vice Chancellor of KNUST who announced these during a meeting with journalists in Kumasi, assured that KNUST would strive to remain the trailblazer in the pursuit of educational excellence worldwide.
She disclosed that KNUST, with a total student population of 89,047 including 35,354 females (40%), employs a total of 8,083 members of staff 73.7% being males.
The VC said a total of 26,733 students were admitted for the 2022/2023 academic year into various programmes offered by the University.
She said about 58.1% of the total enrolment are pursuing Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) related programmes with 44.5% being females.
Professor Rita Dickson also announced that KNUST is currently running 599 programmes, 452 being postgraduate programmes while 147 represent undergraduate programmes.
According to the VC, a significant percent of the programmes are at the various stages of cyclical reaccreditation process with the Ghana Tertiary Educational Commission (GTEC).
She explained that programmes have three years to be reaccredited for new programmes and five years for old programmes.
She reiterated a suggestion that the duration for reaccreditation be extended to 10 years to provide enough time for universities and the GTEC to satisfy the legal obligations of ensuring that all programmes are accredited on time.
Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson assured that KNUST would continue to work with GTEC to ensure that all programmes are duly accredited.
She also announced plans by KNUST to set aside October 6, 2023 and every other October 6 as a KNUST Day of Giving to raise funds for expansion and upgrading of on-campus accommodation infrastructure to provide secure and safe accommodation for students.
KNUST Day of Giving is targeting GHc200 million for the construction of a 2,000 bed capacity accommodation infrastructure.
The Vice Chancellor said project would help improve the residential needs of students and reduce the accommodation deficit of the students on campus.
She urged stakeholders to generously contribute towards this course stressing that no amount is too small.
The VC stressed that one of the primary concerns of KNUST is to ensure that students have access to suitable accommodation options.
According to her, the Directorate of Students Affairs in conjunction with 500 private hostels have, in the interim, teamed up to address the current accommodation challenges.
The VC further disclosed that KNUST is exploring Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) models for both students and staff to enhance on-campus facilities and announced that KNUST is prepared to offer suitable land in this partnership to impact on the lives of its teeming students.
BY Kow Richardson
Kumasi
