KNUST celebrates 72nd birthday as best university in the world: Who takes the iron lady out for a dinner?

The assertion that “what men can do, women can do it even better” has been proven correct and substantiated by the Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST.

I call her the “Iron Lady” of the university having made history by becoming the first woman to occupy that highest office of the university administration like Margaret Thatcher (the original Iron Lady) of the United Kingdom, who became not only the first female Prime Minister of UK but the longest serving Prime Minister. Prof. Mrs Rita Akosua Dickson may not become the longest-serving VC of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, but she has certainly done what Napoleon Bonaparte could not do with her inspirational leadership.

Through intellectual and unflinching leadership, she has together with her supportive and veteran administration placed KNUST above all universities as the first ever Africa’s or Ghana’s university to be ranked the best and number

one in terms of quality education in the whole world. Say what you like, ladies have always been the first.

Now, before any sugar-mommy hunter who has specialized in the chase of anything that is in skirt with a derring-do tendency is made to serve a severe jail term by her husband for attempting to take the Vice Chancellor out because of the above title of this article, let me make it abundantly clear, that she is very stably, happily, peacefully and very prosperously married. And she doesn't need any fine boy.

Let all sugar-mommy hunters be very careful. Nsawam may be your final destination after locating the VC’s office with very polluted, dirty, and contaminated intentions. It’s shameful that many irresponsible women in authority left their jade gates ajar for young men who are very young enough to be their children and even grandsons.

Ideally, failure is synonymous with any young man with very pinkish lips who goes about hankering after his mother’s age mates for adulterous romantic relationships for food or fame.

Instead, the intended purpose of the above title of this article is to draw the attention of all philanthropic individuals, organizations, and the numerous alumni of that prestigious intellectual shrine and temple of knowledge and excellence for science and technology in the country and Africa, to the latest developments and needs of the school. The KNUST needs a philanthropic group or individual(s) to DONATE one million dollars, even euros or pounds to the university. It would be a dream come true if more than that amount is donated to the school.

Where are the richest people in Ghana, Africa, and the world at large?

Having become the first (1st ), number one, and best university in the whole wide world, in terms of quality education (SDG4), the university has been embarking upon a facelift exercise project that would create a befitting image to suit her new status as tourists troops in. The campus has appeared more

beautiful with the clearing of some of its thicker foliage and greenish surroundings. This is an unexpected expenditure on the part of the university administration and ought to be replenished.

Becoming the best university in the world means, the KNUST has increased its attraction of more prospective students nationally and internationally and therefore, needs to improve the accommodation of students. The university is therefore embarking upon the construction of an ultra-modern two thousand (2,000) bedroom capacity Hall of Residence in addition to the six traditional Halls of Residence for students in the university.

While it is woefully inadequate, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. With relentless generosity in donations from philanthropic organizations and

individuals, it would help improve the situation significantly by increasing more Halls of Residence in the school.

Furthermore, it is recalled that the August 2018 impasse that hit the university like a thunderbolt when students expressed their grievances in a rather shameful way by destroying properties of the school, was largely due to lack of accommodation. As part of the findings and the way forward proposed, after a committee of inquiry was set up to investigate the impasse, additional residential facilities for students were one of the main factors recommended to be tackled by the school.

The university therefore seeks to do just that because the private persons and businesses who have been beckoned to help in increasing the infrastructure deficit of the university as far as accommodation of students is concerned

have been extorting money from students unfairly. So the university has decided to take the bull by the horns to shelter her students over 70% of whom are in private hostels off-campus where they are extorted.

For the record, KNUST is above begging but she needs to be embraced for her excessive philanthropic activities and gestures she has always carried out.

KNUST ought to be congratulated and well-wished by Africa and her rich kids for the chunk of success and monumental achievements the university has achieved that is not only making Ghana proud but Africa at large.

But since the announcement by 2023 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings in

June this year 2023, that KNUST has won the number one position in terms of quality education globally, it has been very quiet. We cannot see anybody celebrating the university for this matchless feat.

You see, if there's one embarrassing reality humanity needs to address, fellow citizens of the world, it is for humanity to learn how to run to one another's aid without waiting to be called upon. Such a gesture is most crucial in this period of global economic quagmire and doldrums.

Don't wait for people you suspect are hungry to come and beg you for food before you give them. Help them if you can. Invite them to eat with you with and in dignity. If they aren't hungry, they would say so.

Meanwhile, you would have taught them to do the same to others. There's no wisdom in seeing someone involved in an accident and you are waiting for them to call upon you before you run to their aid. Sometimes, they may be in a state of unconsciousness and cannot call KNUST has not been involved in any accident, she has been involved in too many philanthropic activities that she might be running out of pockets and would need some buffer.

Besides, it's human psychology that when someone has done something worthwhile, they should be congratulated for that achievement in either kind or cash. For example, in academia, students who impress their parents, guardians, or lecturers with excellent grades, are usually congratulated, embraced, and treated unusually nicely. This may sometimes come in the form of preparing sumptuous meals or buying them some nice gifts, as a pat on their backs to encourage them to keep doing the good work.

This was the case of Benjamin Darko, a former PRESC brilliant but needy student who became a filling station attendant having been unable to continue his education at university due to financial constraints. It was the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Prof. Mrs Rita Dickson, and the university administration that ran to his aid. The university offered him a fully funded scholarship into the university.

This is just the tip of the iceberg about philanthropic efforts by the university. KNUST has indeed brought honor to Ghana and Africa for this peerless and matchless feat with only Aalborg University in Denmark and Lingnan University in Hong Kong which jointly took the second position to match the KNUST boot-for-boot.

Were Ghana's government not in limbo with the economy, the government must have done something special for the school. It should have donated sufficiently to the school with some special treatment for her lecturers. The government can still do something. It’s not too late.

To set the record straight, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology has always looked for a way to help needy but brilliant students.

Another classic example was the university's vision to reach out to brilliant but needy students in far-flung less endowed senior high schools across the

country to create a fine opportunity for such students from these no-name and no-on-map SHS schools to also have access to quality university education. It took the dynamic, ebullient, enigmatic, tenacious, and selfless leadership of the then Vice Chancellor, Professor William Otoo Elis (2010-2016)

and his team, to introduce the MasterCard Foundation Scholarship extended by her ladyship, Madam Reeta Roy, the CEO of MasterCard Foundation in Toronto, Canada,

to keep the vision afloat.

So far, more than a thousand students have been catered for including the author of this piece you are reading. By 2029, as the program has been extended, the MasterCard Foundation at KNUST is expected to train over 2250 needy but brilliant students from across Africa.

In short, KNUST has been awesome in contributing to not only Ghana but the growth of Africa, and indeed the entire globe.

However, as the university runs to the aid of needy students as another way of contributing her quota to national, continental, and global development, less attention has been paid to her growth and needs. Perhaps, philanthropic groups assume the institution has some donors and sponsors for these phenomenally impacting philanthropic activities the university is undertaking.

But that’s not the case.

There could be few donors, but as our elders say in our Ghanaian street parlance, an addition that doesn't hurt or harm, nobody rejects it".

Forget the fact that the Asantehene Osei Tutu II, King of the Asantes, is the Chancellor of the university. He has more mouths to feed than you can imagine.

The university would expand her activities and extend her helping hand more if philanthropic organizations and individuals supported and donated to her impactful initiatives and programs.

For instance, in his own words, the then Vice Chancellor, Prof. W. O. Elis had spoken of how the university used her resources to go to Canada to be able to secure the MasterCard Foundation for the benefit of needy but brilliant students in Ghana and the Sub-Saharan Africa.

To whom much is given, much is expected. And KNUST has been exceptional in assisting Ghana, Africa, and the world. The university needs your support in order not to suspend her philanthropic efforts and activities as the number one destination for quality education globally.

Philanthropic individuals and organizations in Ghana, Africa, and the rest of the world cannot afford to see the university folding up these generous activities. For it would be the everlasting shame of the dog if the goat bites a stranger.

It is in this light I am officially writing this epistle as the KNUST celebrates

her 72nd birthday today October 6, 2023, to draw the attention of all donors: individuals and organizations of goodwill to congratulate and celebrate the university in donations. This would serve as a form of motivation to the

school and other tertiary institutions to keep making Ghana great, and Africa proud.

Long Live KNUST, Long Live Ghana, Long Live Africa, and Long Live us all.