Kumasi Gets 3rd University

The first private tertiary institution in Kumasi will admit its first batch of students next month. The Garden City University College at Kenyase, near Kumasi, is the third institution after the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Kumasi Campus of the University College of Education, Winneba (UNCEW-K).

For this year, the Garden City University will run only courses related to Information Communication Technology.

The multi-billion cedi university, also the first private one in the northern sector, will cater for the large number of qualified students particularly in that sector who cannot be absorbed into the public universities due to inadequate facilities.

A unique feature of the university is its emphasis on entrepreneurship development aimed at adequately preparing students to establish their own businesses after graduation, instead of looking up to the government to provide them with employment. Mr Albert Acquah, a Ghanaian based in the United States of America and founder of the university, told a press conference that the National Accreditation Board (NAB) had initially approved the commencement of two programmes that would lead to the award of the Bachelor of Science degree.

The programmes are Finance and Entrepreneurship, and Economics and Statistics. Two others-Accounting and Management Information Systems and Computer Science, are expected to be approved by the board soon. Mr Acquah said the university had ultra-modern facilities including 20 lecture halls, 12 offices, a well-equipped computer laboratory, a library stocked with over 20,000 assorted books, an internet connectivity and a satellite system. Outlining the university's objectives, he said it sought to complement the nation's efforts at meeting the need for higher education.

"The university also seeks to produce innovative, well-grounded and rounded business executives, entrepreneurs, analysts and researchers who can meet the challenges of our time in an increasingly sophisticated global village. We are bent on developing the next generation of innovators who will become agents for social change in the nation's development process," he said.