GAF donates decommissioned aircraft to UG

The Ghana Air Force (GAF) has donated a decommissioned aircraft to the School of Engineering Science (SES) of the University of Ghana (UG).

The Aermacchi MB-339 jet trainer is to help facilitate the school’s proposed Aeronautic and Space Science Technology programme to be introduced next academic year.The SES is to establish a sixth department to run the programme in Aeronautic and Space Science Technology as part of its original mandate.At the hand-over ceremony in Accra last Thursday, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro-Owusu, said a draft document for the introduction of the programme had already been developed and stakeholder consultations were now underway to fine-tune it.He said as part of the partnership with the GAF, the school was ready to assist the GAF Training School in the development and accreditation of its curriculum.MoUFor his part, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Maxwell Mantsebi-Tei Nagai said the Aermacchi would serve as an instructional equipment for the practical training of the students.He said the university and the GAF had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which included the exchange of faculty and resource persons.That, according to him, would build relevant capacities, as well as enrich the course content of both schools.He added that the GAF’s School of Trade Training in Accra would serve as a practical training ground for SES Aeronautical Engineering students.Furthermore, Air Vice Marshal Nagai said the collaboration between the two bodies would enhance the professionalism of engineering corps of the Ghana Air Force.BackgroundThe School of Engineering Sciences of the University of Ghana was established in 2002 by the university.The school, which currently has about 900 students both at the graduate and undergraduate levels, is made up of five departments, namely Agricultural Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Food Process Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering.