UPSA names Prof. John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor as incoming Vice-Chancellor

Effective January 1, 2025, Prof. John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor will be the Vice-Chancellor of the University for Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).

The UPSA announced this on its official website, where it said that the decision was made at a Special Council meeting held on Monday, May 6, 2024, during which the Governing Council of the UPSA appointed Prof. John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor as the third Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra.

Prof. Mawutor is currently the Pro Vice-Chancellor at UPSA and is responsible for the day-to-day control and administration of academic affairs. As Pro Vice-Chancellor, he has promoted the development, diversification and effective delivery of current and new programmes to address emerging national issues, supervised UPSA’s quality assurance initiatives, and streamlined academic processes to enhance efficiency and eliminate redundancies. Under the direction of the Vice-Chancellor, he has also spearheaded faculty-centric and student-centred projects to further enrich the teaching and learning process.

He is an experienced professional and academic and comes to this role with more than 20 years of experience in academia and industry.

Prof. Mawutor has held various positions at UPSA, serving in increasingly responsible roles culminating at executive level roles. He has served as Programme Coordinator of various academic programmes, Vice-Dean and in 2016, he was appointed as Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, a position he held until 2022. As Dean, he is credited with the exponential growth of UPSA’s graduate programmes both in student population and programme offerings.

Prof. Mawutor began his career in the higher education sector as a lecturer at UPSA in 2008. Since then, he has risen through the ranks, serving as programme coordinator of several graduate school programmes. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2014 and became Associate Professor in 2021. He has also served as Vice-Dean of the School of Graduate School.

Prof. Mawutor currently serves as Chairman of several UPSA statutory committees including the Timetable Committee, Academic Audit and Review Committee, Academic Prizes Committee, and Library Committee. He has broad research interests in accounting and finance and has published more than 50 refereed articles in that field. Additionally, he has presented more than 20 conference papers and written several books on financial planning.

He has served on several national committees and boards including the Coastal Development Authority, and Abokobi Area Rural Bank where he served as Vice-Chairman. He has also served on the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund). He has appeared on all the leading television networks, where he shares his expertise on financial matters impacting the nation.

Prof. Mawutor is a professor of Finance and a Chartered Accountant, with a membership in the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He is also an Elder at the Church of Pentecost, LA area, Kokomlemle Assembly. An avid Hearts of Oak fan, Prof. Mawutor is married with children.

Prof. Mawutor will take over from Prof. Abednego F.O. Amartey, whose tenure ends on December 31, 2024, after overseeing eight (8) years of unprecedented growth at UPSA.

AE