2 Universities sign MoU to complement efforts
The two public universities in the Bono Region, the Sunyani Technical University (STU) and the University for Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enable them to complement each other in their activities.
The MoU seeks to enable the two universities to collaborate on activities, including joint research and publications, exchange of students and research personnel and joint supervision of postgraduate students.
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Other areas are affiliation of programmes that would be beneficial to each party, organisation of seminars and research meetings, as well as joint applications for research funding, among others.
The MoU will be in force for a period of five years and may be amended or extended only by mutual written agreement of the parties.
Combine efforts
At the signing ceremony last Tuesday, the Vice-Chancellor of STU, Professor Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, said as the leading universities in the Bono Region, there was the need for them to use their combined knowledge to develop the area.
He said even though universities in the country were quick to collaborate with universities in the developed countries, there was the need for collaboration among themselves.
"We leave here to United States of America (USA), Germany and other faraway places to sign MoUs for the development of our institutions when we have great opportunities to tap into the expertise of universities around us," Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah said.
According to him, both STU and UENR had so many things in common; he explained that currently five STU students were pursuing postgraduate programmes at UENR while students from UENR had been using STU's laboratory facilities for their practical work.
"The area we have to collaborate in are many, already we are collaborating and we need to make such mutual collaborations official through MoUs and bring us closer," he said.
Hone potentials
For his part, the Vice-Chancellor of the UENR, Professor Elvis Asare-Bediako, said collaboration between universities in the country was long overdue.
"Since no university can exist as an island, the keyword now is collaboration and not competition," he stated, adding that "Let's start this home before going abroad."
Prof. Asare-Bediako said, "it is only when we move along that we will catch up with those who have gone ahead and move further to be among the top universities not only in Ghana but the world at large."
He said as the only public universities in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions, coordinating their efforts would enable them to develop concepts that could hone potentials and enable the people create jobs for themselves and others.
