Picture: Ing.Prof Osei-Wusu Achaw- Vice-Chancellor (left) and Dr. Addo Koranteng (Erasmus plus Coordinator) with officials of Warsaw University of Life Sciences
The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Ing. Professor Osei-Wusu Achaw led a team from Kumasi Technical University (KsTU) to visit 3 universities in Germany and Poland as part of KsTU’s efforts at operationalising a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with some European institutions.
In 2019, Dr. Addo Koranteng of KsTU and Prof. Tobias Kramer of Eberswalde University of Sustainable Development jointly applied for and won a grant under the European Union Erasmus Plus Programme to develop collaborations in several areas of academic endeavour of their respective Universities. It was under the aegis of the said collaboration that Dr. Addo Koranteng, and the VC travelled to Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE), Warsaw University of Life Sciences–SGGW and Technische Hochschule Köln-TKH. The call was to enhance and strengthen the existing relationships between KsTU and these institutions and to also explore new areas for further collaborations.
HNEE is Germany’s greenest university. It has been committed to sustainable research and teaching for over 190 years. During an encounter with the Dean of Applied Sciences at HNEE, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Strasdas, who is a renowned authority and has a track record of winning grants and other DAAD funding, he said he was looking forward to an enhanced relationship between our two institutions. He gave a brief overview of HNEE and said he was optimistic that the collaboration will benefit the two institutions in many academic disciplines. The areas of cooperation are academic programmes that are of mutual interest to the two institutions, i.e. education and training as well as research and development, namely; joint research in the field of Science, Technology, and Engineering; exchange of students and faculty staff; scholarships for faculty members to pursue PhD in relevant areas. He further noted that the MoU will open new avenues for collaboration between the 2 institutions and also urged the International Office, Office of the Vice-Chancellor and the Erasmus Coordinator to show interest in new areas of study such as Sustainable Tourism programme which has the potential to attract more Erasmus plus grants to the University.
The Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) offers 38 fields of study (including 8 taught in English): from natural science and technology to veterinary medicine, social and economic studies. There are nearly 18,000 students in full-time, part-time, doctoral, and other postgraduate study programmes in that University. KsTU and SGGW already have an institutional collaboration with a signed MoU which covers joint research in the fields of Science, Technology, and Engineering; exchange of students and faculty staff; scholarships for faculty members to pursue PhD in relevant areas. SGGW dwelt extensively on the offers available under the Erasmus programme during the visit and was hopeful that KsTU would take advantage of the many opportunities for the benefit of faculty members, administrators and students.
Another institution that KsTU has an MOU with and which the team visited was Technische Hochschule Köln. A staff-students exchange programme with Koln which was initiated in 2019 could not run because of the COVID 19 pandemic. However, following the visit of the KsTU team, it was agreed to activate the programme in February, 2022, which could open the door for 2 academic staff and 2 students from KsTU to visit THK for a period of about 6 months starting from February next year.
From all indications the visit to these European institutions was hugely successful. It is hoped that further follow ups will be done to firm up the many nascent agreements struck between KsTU and these institutions to yield positive results for the University.