KNUST-affiliated university not reopened almost 2yrs; no explanation to students

The African Institute of Sanitation and Waste Management, a Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology affiliate, at Adjiringanor in the Greater Accra Region, has abruptly halted all its programmes and proceeded on a break, which has lasted for two year now.

The situation leaves the fate of about 200 students in the balance as they were asked to go on a break only nine months into their study and have since not been called back.

The directive for them to go on break, the students say, was without any explanation.

According to a representative of the students, they were called for a meeting midway into the break and assured they would be recalled but that never came to being.

They were also told at that meeting that KNUST did not renew the memorandum of understanding, which it had with the Institute upon which they had the mandate to admit students for various Master of Science programmes.

The students claim they have paid fees ranging between GH? 9,000 and GH? 18,000 without going through the full academic calendar and that all efforts to get authorities hear their plight has yielded no results.

The student body is therefore calling on the Vice Chancellor of KNUST and the Education Minister to intervene.

Attempts by TV3 to get answers did not yield much as one Vanessa at the school directed the news team to speak with one Professor Boamah at KNUST,

But when contacted via phone, the KNUST professor was reluctant to speak, questioning interest in the issue.

Background

The KNUST- Africa Institute of Sanitation and Waste Management in Accra is a partnership between the Zoomlion Group of Companies and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

The Institute was established in 2013 to close the development gap in waste management through research, development and training.

It also sought to equip students with the requisite skills to promote a cleaner, greener and healthier environment through excellence in waste management.

This school, which is affiliated to KNUST, runs programmes in Master of Science (MSc) Environment and Water Resources Engineering, MSc Civil and Mechanical Engineering, MPhil or MSc Environment and Public Health.