As part of efforts toward promoting the internationalisation of education delivery, the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has partnered the University of Kigali (UoK), Rwanda, to deepen academic service delivery on the African continent.
Specific areas of the partnership include research publication (articles and books)/reviews, joint curriculum development, student exchange programmes, faculty and staff exchange programmes, executive education, consultancy and outreach activities, joint workshops and assorted training, student and staff scholarships, joint grant proposal writing and other joint innovation projects.
Officials of the two institutions led by the Vice-Chancellor of UPSA, Prof Abednego Amartey, and UoK’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof Robert Ebo Hinson, held two separate meetings on the 21st and 22nd October, to discuss and outline a roadmap to achieving the intended academic service delivery.
The two also discussed the possibility of UPSA extending a doctoral scholarship to the UoK and the exploration of joint doctoral supervision between UPSA and UoK faculty.
Others at the meeting were Prof. Abigail Opoku Mensah, Director of the Centre for International Education and Collaboration (CIEC), who was the convener and chairperson of the meeting; UPSA’s deans from the School of Graduate Studies, the Evening School and the Weekend School and the Faculty of Management Studies.
Also present were a representative of the Dean of the UPSA Law School; the Coordinator of the School of Doctoral Studies; Ms Ivy Heward-Mills, Deputy Director of Public Affairs and Eunice Ahiabor, an Assistant Registrar at the Centre for International Education and Collaboration (CIEC), who was the secretary of the meeting. UPSA scholars who were abroad joined virtually.
The UPSA seized the opportunity of the interaction to invite all UoK students, faculty, and staff to attend the 22nd Academy of African Business and Development (AABD) conference which it would host from 17-21 May 2022.
The AABD annual conferences aim at facilitating multidisciplinary research by stimulating collaborations between Africa-based researchers and professionals and their counterparts around the world, by broadening and deepening global understanding of various issues relevant to Africa’s business and development, as well as advancing solutions to its challenges.
The 2022 conference will have tracks including Accounting, Finance, and Investment; International Aid, Economic Policies and Strategies; Entrepreneurship, Small Business, and the Informal Sector; Exporting, Internationalisation and Foreign Direct Investment; Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Digital Transformation; Human Resources Management and Organisations; Sustainability, Business Ethics and, Social Responsibility; Marketing and Consumer Behaviour; Operations and Logistics/Supply Chain/Project Management; Graduate Student Papers; Research Methods; Special Sessions; Local and Community Development and COVID-19 and Business in Africa.
Prof Hinson intimated that the UoK will take a keen interest in the Graduate Student Papers track and encourage its postgraduate students to submit papers to this conference in conjunction with their supervisors.
The University of Kigali is an innovative African University with a charismatic multinational senior management team, with leading academics and administrators drawn from countries such as Rwanda, Ghana, and Kenya.
It also has a student population that boasts of thirty-one nationalities demonstrating the university’s international credentials and character.
