The Accra Institute of Technology (AIT) and the Open University of Malaysia (OUM) have entered into a partnership agreement to run an Open University programme in Ghana.
Under the agreement which is in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), AIT will offer undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes using its open learning academic programme delivery, infrastructure and technologies as well as those of the OUM.
Dr. Abdulai Baba Salifu, Director General of the CSIR, announced this at a press briefing in Accra on Thursday to shed light on the partnership arrangement
He said the Open University programme is set to resolve the gap in education financing by reducing cost and making tertiary education affordable to many people.
He said a nation’s development does not solely lie in the number of natural resources it has, but in its human capacity development of the citizenry.
He said the astounding rate of development of countries such as Malaysia, South Korea and other Asian Tigers that are less endowed with natural resources, underlines the thesis that the real source of wealth and strength of a nation no longer resides in the natural raw materials.
Dr Salifu said the current way of effecting development in any country is to be found in the educational, scientific and technological capacity that a nation commands.
“Therefore, the greatest asset of a nation is its people equipped with requisite scientific knowledge,” he said.
He said it is in this vain that CSIR is very happy to be part of the unique programme to enhance the development of the nation’s human resources by the AIT-OUM.
Dr Salifu said the mandate of CSIR to cooperate and liaise with local and international bodies, particularly, the universities in areas of research and development has come into focus with the AIT relationship.
He said AIT and CSIR will be committed to pursuing teaching, training, research and scholarship that would help to develop the individual, promote knowledge, excellence and industry in the service of humanity.
“It is obvious that without a well grounded and enhanced human resource development base which is education, any other effort at developing socially, economically and culturally will remain futile,” he said.
Professor Clement Dzidonu, president of AIT, said ‘the partnership between AIT and OUM is in line with the goal of AIT to lead the way in transforming Ghana into a higher education hub within the West African sub-region and beyond’.
He said the AIT’s decision to offer postgraduate degree programmes in addition to the undergraduate degree programmes through its open university system, was directed at contributing to addressing the current crisis of shortage of lecturers with the requisite postgraduate degrees within the public and private university system.
Prof. Dzidonu said ‘this has become necessary because a number of the public universities lecturers are showing signs of ageing and needed to be replaced in the near future’.
“The open university is the way to go if Ghana is to drastically improve university enrollment and broaden access to tertiary education through emerging educational delivery technologies and learning resources,” he stressed.
The president and vice chancellor of OUM, Prof. Anwar Ali, said the partnership would create the opportunity for Malaysia to share its educational experience with Ghana.
Under the agreement which is in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), AIT will offer undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes using its open learning academic programme delivery, infrastructure and technologies as well as those of the OUM.
Dr. Abdulai Baba Salifu, Director General of the CSIR, announced this at a press briefing in Accra on Thursday to shed light on the partnership arrangement
He said the Open University programme is set to resolve the gap in education financing by reducing cost and making tertiary education affordable to many people.
He said a nation’s development does not solely lie in the number of natural resources it has, but in its human capacity development of the citizenry.
He said the astounding rate of development of countries such as Malaysia, South Korea and other Asian Tigers that are less endowed with natural resources, underlines the thesis that the real source of wealth and strength of a nation no longer resides in the natural raw materials.
Dr Salifu said the current way of effecting development in any country is to be found in the educational, scientific and technological capacity that a nation commands.
“Therefore, the greatest asset of a nation is its people equipped with requisite scientific knowledge,” he said.
He said it is in this vain that CSIR is very happy to be part of the unique programme to enhance the development of the nation’s human resources by the AIT-OUM.
Dr Salifu said the mandate of CSIR to cooperate and liaise with local and international bodies, particularly, the universities in areas of research and development has come into focus with the AIT relationship.
He said AIT and CSIR will be committed to pursuing teaching, training, research and scholarship that would help to develop the individual, promote knowledge, excellence and industry in the service of humanity.
“It is obvious that without a well grounded and enhanced human resource development base which is education, any other effort at developing socially, economically and culturally will remain futile,” he said.
Professor Clement Dzidonu, president of AIT, said ‘the partnership between AIT and OUM is in line with the goal of AIT to lead the way in transforming Ghana into a higher education hub within the West African sub-region and beyond’.
He said the AIT’s decision to offer postgraduate degree programmes in addition to the undergraduate degree programmes through its open university system, was directed at contributing to addressing the current crisis of shortage of lecturers with the requisite postgraduate degrees within the public and private university system.
Prof. Dzidonu said ‘this has become necessary because a number of the public universities lecturers are showing signs of ageing and needed to be replaced in the near future’.
“The open university is the way to go if Ghana is to drastically improve university enrollment and broaden access to tertiary education through emerging educational delivery technologies and learning resources,” he stressed.
The president and vice chancellor of OUM, Prof. Anwar Ali, said the partnership would create the opportunity for Malaysia to share its educational experience with Ghana.
