Kumasi Technical University (KsTU) Gets New Officers
The Governing Council of Kumasi Technical University (KsTU) has duly appointed four key officers to run the affairs of the Institution. They are Nana Ing. Prof. Osei-Wusu Achaw, Vice Chancellor, Engr. Prof. Mike Agbesi Acheampong, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Mr. Ebenezer Kofi Boakye, Registrar and Surv. Divine Comla-Sekyere, Director of Works and Physical Development.
According to the Statutes of the University, the Vice Chancellor, Registrar and the Director of Works and Physical Development have individual renewable tenure of four years while the Pro-Vice Chancellor has three years. These individuals have the following profiles:
Profile of The Vice Chancellor of KsTU
ING. Professor Osei-Wusu Achaw was born on 14th December, 1962 at Ankaase (lake side) in Bosome-Freho District in the Ashanti region. He is married with three children. Prof. Osei-Wusu had his Ordinary and Advanced levels General Certificate of Education at Toase Secondary School in the Ashanti region in 1979 and Sunyani Secondary School in the Brong Ahafo region in 1981 respectively.
He holds a certificate in BSc. Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Budapest in 1987. He followed this up and earned a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering at Technical University of Budapest in Budapest, Hungary in the year 1989. He then earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Chemical Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Kumasi, Ghana, in 2005.
In his bid to advance his education, Prof. Osei-Wusu underwent postgraduate studies in Chemical Engineering at the University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, United States of America from 1990-1992. From 1993 to 1995, he had another postgraduate studies in Chemical Engineering in Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He has attended series of workshops which include a NABPTEX Workshop on Test Item Writing at Kumasi Technical University (KsTU), Kumasi, Ghana and another on Writing Proposals to Source Funding for Research Projects in Kumasi in 2012. Moreover, he attained a certificate in Higher Education Management from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana/ University of Twenete, Holland in 2006.
In September 1996, he joined Kumasi Technical University (then Kumasi Polytechnic) as a member of staff and founding lecturer of the Department of Chemical Engineering. Between 1997 and 2008, he served as the Head of the newly established Department of Chemical Engineering. Between 2002 and 2008, Prof. Osei-Wusu served as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Kumasi Technical University. In 2008, he was promoted to a Senior Lecturer (the first in the Institution to be so promoted since its establishment as a tertiary institution) and was promoted to Associate Professor in April 2014. From 2011 to 2013, he held the position of Director of the School of Graduate Studies Research and Innovation (SGSRI).
Prof. Osei-Wusu is a professional Engineer and an accomplished academic, researcher and administrator with both local and international experience. Between 2014 and 2018, he served as the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Institution of Engineering (GhIE) and a member of the Council of the Institution. He is also a Senior Partner of OWACH Process Solution, a consultancy firm engaged in trouble shooting and offering engineering solutions to the chemical process industries.
He served on almost all the key Standing and Ad-hoc committees of the University including the Executive Committee, Academic Board, the Development Committee, the Research and Conferences Committee, the Appointments and Promotions Committee and the Scholarship and Staff Development Committee. Most recently, he chaired the Committee that reviewed the National Council for Tertiary Education’s (NCTE’s) draft documents on the Statutes, Scheme of Service and Conditions of Service for the newly converted Technical Universities.
He has researched extensively and published close to forty (40) peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed articles. He has also supervised close to 50 Higher National Diploma (HND), B Tech and PhD theses. He has also chaired and taken part in the development of HND, B Tech, M Tech and D Tech curricula in Chemical Engineering.
He has helped to generate income for the University both directly and indirectly. Directly, he has written proposals that have brought close to $500,000.00 (five hundred thousand Dollars) to the University. Indirectly, as the Campus Coordinator of the Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund (TALIF), he was instrumental in facilitating proposals that fetched close to $1,500.000.00 (One million, and five Hundred Thousand US Dollars) to the University. Recently, he led a team that presented a proposal to the Petroleum Commission to set-up Centers of Excellence for the training of technicians in the University at an estimated cost of $1,800,000.00 (One million and eight hundred thousand Dollars ).
As the Chairman of the GhIE in the Ashanti region, he championed Engineering education in the region. Among his key contributions in that direction are; two years ago, he led a team of Engineers to raise close to Gh₵ 100,000.00 (one hundred thousand Ghana Cedis) to organise a workshop to encourage young girls to take up Engineering as a career choice. In 2017, he led a similar team to raise Gh₵ 210,000.00 (two hundred and ten thousand Ghana Cedis) to organise an Engineering project competition for the youth. Importantly, he was instrumental in setting-up a branch office of the Institution in Kumasi in Ashanti region, the only region outside of Accra where the Institution has an office.
Outside the University, he has also contributed to community and national development. He is the Ankobeahene of Kokofu-Penanko. In that capacity, he has contributed immensely to the development of the community, key among which is being the Chairman of the biennial Opemsuo Festival of that community; an international festival that draws visitors from all over the world to Kokofu and Ghana. He has also chaired for six consecutive years, the annual Easter Meet-me-There programme at Ankaase (Lake Side) to organise Easter festivities for holiday- makers.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Kokofu Credit Union. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Kokofu General Hospital. Previously, he served on the Board of Governors of Toase Senior High School. Presently, he is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of Oppon Memorial Senior High School in Kokofu, Ashanti region. Between 2004 and 2008, he served on the Programme Advisory Committee of the Renewable Energy programme of Koforidua Technical University. He also participated in the National Council of Tertiary Education (NCTE) conference on tertiary education in Ghana in 2015 in Accra.
Engr. Prof. Mike Agbesi Acheampong was born on 21 October 1969 in Kumasi, Ghana. He is an Environmental/Chemical Engineer by training. He has blended this background with expertise in Environmental Biotechnology. He obtained his B.Sc. (Chemical Engineering) and M.Sc. (Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation) degrees from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana in 1996 and 2005, respectively. In October 2013, he obtained a joint PhD degree in Environmental/Chemical Engineering from the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and the Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
Engr. Prof. Acheampong worked for Unilever (Ghana) Limited (1996), Nestlé (Ghana) Limited (1997 - 1998), Premier Distribution Agency and Demax investments (1998 - May 2003) before joining Kumasi Technical University (the then Kumasi Polytechnic) in May 2003 as Senior Instructor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Through a dint of hard work and dedication to duty, he became a lecturer and Senior Lecturer in 2005 and 2011, respectively. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in Environmental/Chemical Engineering in 2014.
Engr. Prof. Acheampong is an Environmental and Chemical Engineering Consultant. He is an expert on metallurgical wastewater treatment using sorption technology. He also has expertise in the area of Chemical Process Plant and Products Design, Industrial Safety, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Pollution Prevention and Control Techniques, Wastewater Quality Management, Freshwater Quality Management, Solid Waste Management, Water and Wastewater Treatment and Writing of Environmental Reports (Environmental Management Plan, Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Assessment). He is an advocate of Cleaner Production Technology for environmental sustainability.
Until his appointment as the substantive Pro Vice Chancellor of the University, he was the Interim Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology at Kumasi Technical University in Ghana. He acted as Rector/Vice Chancellor of the University on several occasions. He was the Head of the Chemical Engineering Department of Kumasi Polytechnic from September 2007 to February 2009 and September 2014 to September 2015. In addition, Engr. Prof. Acheampong acted as Head of the Chemical Engineering Department from June to August 2014.
He is an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Regional Maritime University in Ghana; a Visiting Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering and Technology at the Madonna University in Nigeria and an Associate Professor at the Graduate School (Coventry University Masters Programme) at the Kumasi campus of Ghana Technology University College in Ghana. Prof. Acheampong is also an External Assessor to some local and foreign Universities.
In the area of collaborative research, he has been working together with individual researchers in the relevant departments of a number of local and international academic institutions. Some of the institutions are CSIR Water Research Institute in Ghana; College of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, KNUST in Ghana; Department of Environmental Engineering and Water Technology, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in The Netherlands; Department of Environmental Engineering and Management, Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand; Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology in India; Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering, Universidade do Porto in Portugal and College of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, University of South Florida in the USA.
He has supervised and still supervising Higher National Diploma, Bachelor of Technology/Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctorial theses. Engr. Prof. Acheampong is an External Examiner of Master of Science and Doctorial theses for some local and international universities.
He has published forty-seven (47) scholarly papers since 2009, including eight (8) conference papers and a book. In 2013, he published the book "Sustainable gold mining wastewater treatment by sorption using low-cost materials (ISBN: 978-1-138-00165-7)".
Engr. Prof. Acheampong is the Leader of the Partnership for Applied Sciences (PASS) project. The Partnership for Applied Sciences Project is a partnership between Kumasi Technical University (KsTU), Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU), and three German Universities of Applied Sciences (Hochshule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, TH Köln University of Applied Sciences, and International Hochshule Bad Honnef – Bonn International University of Applied Sciences). The four-year (July, 2017 – June, 2021) project, funded through the German Academic Exchange Services (DAAD/MIWF), aims at achieving full transformation of KsTU and CCTU according to the model of German Universities of Applied Sciences.
At the professional level, he is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Ghana and an Associate Member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, UK. He is also a member of the Ashanti Chapter of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Alumni Association and International X-Ray Absorption Society (IXAS).
Engr. Prof. Acheampong is married to Rita D. Acheampong (Mrs.) and they have three lovely children, Manuella, Mike Jnr. and Philbert.
Profile of The Registrar, KsTU
Mr. Ebenezer Kofi Boakye is a married man born on 16th September, 1966. Mr. Kofi Boakye is a product of Kumasi Technical University (KsTU) after completing his Ordinary and Advanced levels of education as well as being trained as a teacher in Berekum Training College in 1989. He furthered his education at Leicester Business School, De Montfort University, Leicester, Leicester Business Academy and Loughborough University, Leicestershire all in the United Kingdom. He holds MSc. Strategic Public Management.
He joined Kumasi Technical University staff in November 1998 as Acting Planning/ Assistant Planning Officer and has gone through the ranks to become a Senior Planning Officer. Mr. Boakye was once a part-time instructor and a lecturer at KsTU (then Kumasi Polytechnic). He also lectured at Leicester Business Academy in the United Kingdom.
As a result of his rich experiences, he has served on a number of Statutory, Administrative and Ad-hoc Committees as Consultant, Chairman, Member, Member/ Secretary or Secretary. He has also organised a number of retreats and workshops at Kumasi Technical University.
Until his appointment as Registrar, he was the Head of Planning Unit and Convocation Representative (Non-Teaching) on the Governing Council. He was also the Co-ordinator, Partnership for Applied Sciences (PASS) programme and Co-ordinator General, Senior Members (Non-Teaching) Association of all Technical Universities and Polytechnics in Ghana.
Mr. Kofi Boakye is very affable and results-oriented individual.
Profile of Director of Works, KsTU
Surv. Divine Comla Sekyere, a Ghanaian was born on 1ST March 1970. He is a Facilities/Estates Manager. He attended Kpando Secondary School from 1983-1990 and acquired the Ordinary and Advanced Levels certificate. From 1992-1997, he acquired a Bachelor of Science Degree in Land Economy from the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. He then attained a Masters Degree in Land Management and Administration in Urban Land Administration at the International Institute of Geo-Information Sciences and Earth Observation in ITC Netherlands from 2002 to 2003.
Surv. Divine Comla Sekyere has over 21 years experience in Facilities Management, Valuation practices, Land Administration and Urban Land Management. Starting as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Land Economy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in 1997 till 1999, he joined the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands in the Ashanti Region. He was also acquainted with the Department of Estate Management (Kumasi Technical University) as a part time lecturer from the year 1997 till 2015.
While with the Office of the Administrator of stool lands, Surv. Sekyere worked in the Ashanti, Western and the Northern regions of Ghana as the Deputy Regional Stool Lands Officer in the Ashanti region and as the Acting Regional Stool Lands Officer in the Western and the Northern regions. He has interacted with communities in these regions in the resolution of customary land conflicts, ensuring security of tenure especially, to the less privileged in society as well as the disbursement of stool/skin lands revenue to the stools, traditional councils and the various District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies.
He joined Kumasi Technical University in November 2005 and held the positions of the Estate Officer and then to Senior Assistant Development Officer until 2013 when he was promoted to the position of the Deputy Director of Works and Physical Development. He became the Acting Director of Works and Physical Development in September 2018 when his predecessor retired. He was appointed the Director of Works and Physical Development effective September 2019.
As a result of his academic prowess, Surv. Comla Sekyere became a Chartered Member of Ghana Institution of Surveyors (MGhIS) in 2001 . In 2017, he joined the Fellow of Ghana Institution of Surveyors (F.Gh.I.S) and also the International Facilities Managers Association (IFMA). His zest for academic and professional excellence cannot be impeached.
