UPSA to be renamed after founder – President discloses

President Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Wednesday disclosed that the Council of the University for Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) had taken the decision to rename the institution after its Founder and first Director, Nana J.K. Opoku-Ampomah.

He said that decision by the UPSA Council had received Presidential Consent, and that when Parliament approved the resolution, the University would be known and called the Opoku-Ampomah University of Professional Studies.

“It is a most excellent decision, which has received the approval of the President of the Republic,” he said. 

President Akufo-Addo said this when he addressed a special congregation of the UPSA to confer honorary doctorate degrees on two distinguished personalities for their distinct achievements in academia and sports.

Nana J.K. Opoku Ampomah was conferred with a Doctorate of Business, Honorary Causa, for his contribution to improving education in the country.

Mr Hamad Hamad, the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and Fifa Vice President, was also conferred with a Doctorate of Laws, Honorary Causa, for his contribution to improving football in Africa.

President Akufo-Addo said from relatively small beginnings in 1967, the UPSA had become one of the progressive public universities in Ghana offering tertiary and professional education qualification.

He said the UPSA, as result of the outstanding and commendable work done by Nana Opoku-Ampomah, and successive leadership of the school, it had, over the years, gained the reputation as the oldest human resource development institution in professional accountancy and management, with many of its products in leadership positions within and outside the country.

“With an extraordinary history and a huge potential for growth, it is clear that the UPSA has laid a solid foundation and is building the systems for a unique academic and professional profile quite distinct from the requirements of a purely academic or professional institution,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo said his administration was committed to ensuring that the youth of Ghana gained access not only to senior high school education but also to tertiary education, to equip them with the requisite skills for national development.

Noting the challenges of successive governments in funding tertiary education, particularly at the graduate level, the President announced that the Government was establishing a research fund for the sole purpose of financing relevant and specific research works in the institutions of higher learning.

He said the Government would continue to support tertiary institution-industry collaborative programmes to increase opportunities for practical training and internship.

“We shall promote curricular development to meet the skills and human resource demands of industry, create the opportunities for work and study and make training in entrepreneurship a cardinal component of the school system,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that the Education Ministry would soon begin the implementation of the recommendations that would reform university accreditation to introduce equity and fairness in the establishment of public and private universities.

He commended the Council and Management of the UPSA for placing emphasis on courses that were relevant to the needs of the economy in areas of management sciences, accountancy, marketing, banking and finance, communication and information technology and other related social sciences.

He gave the assurance that the Government, through the Ministry of Education, would continue to support the UPSA as much the state of the public purse would permit.

“Education remains the key and best route to moving the mass of our people out of poverty.

“I believe that our country is at the cast of a new and bold beginning, which would lead to the foundation of a new Ghanaian civilization where science, technology and knowledge, would unleash the huge potential of the Ghanaian people and create progress, prosperity and dignified standards of living for them,” he said.

Source: GNA

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