GIMPA sets up GH¢1bn endowment fund
The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) has set up a GH¢1 billion endowment fund to support needy brilliant students.
The fund will also be used to expand the infrastructure of the institution to global standards.
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"On March 31, GIMPA will launch its endowment fund which is intended to preserve the university into perpetuity. We had some challenges during COVID-19 and we have learnt from that and realised the need to think beyond just the immediate and to look in the perpetuity," the Rector of GIMPA, Prof. Samuel Kwaku Bonsu, said at an event dubbed "An Evening with the Rector" last Friday in Accra.
The event was attended by members from the creative arts industry, among other personalities.
They included actors and actresses, musicians and radio presenters.
Choice
In essence, Prof. Bonsu said GIMPA wished to become a university of choice for leading executives and ambitious young people.
"As we all know, there are many people who need such help. Our schools have initiated programmes to help develop these flagship programmes. We would like to transform these students to become better than what they are now," he said.
Creative arts
He said the institute would be rolling out a creative arts management programme to equip players in the industry with skills in the area of management.
Prof. Bonsu told members of the industry that they had the experience and so "you can tell us what it is that it needs and we will be very happy to create opportunities that will fill that need".
The creative arts management programme, he said, would commence in September this year.
Recognition
Prof. Bonsu indicated that the institution recognised the value of the creative arts to the country's national development.
However, he said the country had not been successful at tapping such important resource for its development.
"We know we cannot do this alone; we need you to work with us because regardless of the significant intelligence we have here at GIMPA, there is a limit, we don’t know everything. As an innovative institution with the penchant of doing what is extraordinary, we are ready to explore these opportunities in developing the creative arts with the potential for the development of Ghana and beyond," he emphasised.
"You are the experts. We are just hangers on, so we are considering various programmes of study that we will use to support the creative arts and we know you are the ones who can guide us into developing those programmes,” he reminded the players in the industry.
According to him, GIMPA was set up to offer short and long-term programmes: one-day, two-day, four-day, two weeks and degree programmes as well.
"So we are looking at everything through that chain from the two-day to the four-year doctorates and the opportunities for creating those with you to help enhance the industry. There is no focused creative arts in the country. There is the university of Ghana School of Performing Arts but they have a limited range of offerings which do not include management of the arts. Ours is a management school with significant expertise in that area and that is what we hope to tap for the purposes of the interactions we are having and programmes that we will develop," he said.
The Rector added that there was tremendous opportunity "here and I hope we can work with you to develop the arts management programmes that I have alluded to towards growing the industry".
Prof. Bonsu said education was not just being in the classroom but also about exposure to various areas of life.
"So we would like to expose our students to society at large as part of the learning process and we’ve initiated projects intended to facilitate this type of learning. The creative arts would not be left out of this. We would like to have students practising management of the creative arts," he said.