Merck, a leading science and technology company, has expanded its 'Best Student Awards' programme to include students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Central University College.
For the past three years, the company selected three students from the University of Ghana's School of Pharmacy to participate in a month-long internship at its headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany.
The students receive practical training in pharmaceutical and life sciences before specialising in their respective fields.
Dr Kai Beckmann, a member of the Executive Board of Merck, speaking at a press conference in Accra, said “the programme is one more example of Merck's commitment to supporting healthy families, healthy communities and healthy economies in Ghana.”
He said with Africa as a key market for their company, they were focused on raising awareness on health topics, responding to unmet medical needs, and helping to shape tomorrow's great scientific minds on the African continent.
Dr Beckmann said the internship programme would further establish a stronger partnership between the company and the participating universities.
“We are looking forward to receiving the next generation of scientists and researchers from Ghana,” he said.
Reverend Professor Charles Ansah, the Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science, KNUST, said it has become necessary to raise the calibre of professionals being produced in the pharmaceutical industry.
He said the opportunity was welcomed and appealed to management of Merck to extend the gesture to lecturers of pharmacy.
