Rev. John Ntim Fordjour
Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, Deputy Minister for Education, has urged tertiary students to embark on innovative research to help solve problems confronting the nation.
He said students must take advantage of existing partnerships between local and international institutions and come up with solutions which would lead the country to the “path of economic transformation”.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour was speaking at the opening session of a leadership and academic panel discussion hosted by the University of Ghana and Cornell University as part of an official visit of the Cornell University delegation.
The dialogue was on the topic: “The Future of Collaboration: Global Higher Education and Making a Difference at Home and in the World”.
The Deputy Minister, in his address, observed that education was “more impactful” when high ranking universities formed “significant collaborations”.
He was confident that the existing ties between the University of Ghana and Cornell University would lead to “more groundbreaking outcomes in research”.
“When two giants, Cornell University and the premiere University in Ghana, collaborate, we can only expect solution and innovations that will propel the social economic development of Ghana, the United States and other parts of the world,” he stated.
Prof. Michael Kotlikoff, Provost, Cornell University, highlighted various areas of collaboration between Cornell and University of Ghana, which would be improved in the years ahead.
He noted that global education required a “bi-directional flow” due to the “depth of the talent across the globe and magnitude of the problems that face the planet”.
To that end, he said it was important for institutions to “work together to solve local problems before thebecome global problems”.
Prof. Michael Kotlikoff was impressed with the growing number of Ghanaian students in Cornell, which he believed, could grow further.
“With our Global Hub Partnership, we look forward to more exchange of students between our universities building on the best of both of our institutions. But our overall arching goal should be ensuring that the best and brightest students are able to thrive and innovate in Ghana,” he stated.
Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, Vice-Chancellor, University of Ghana, highlighted the importance of “strategic alliances” towards attaining the core mandate of institutions of higher learning.
She said the discussions formed a part of the University of Ghana’s “research intensive agenda” and her mission to create a culture that promoted research, teaching, learning, and administrative processes driven by technology.
She was confident that the forum would yield positive results as participants deliberated on issues of public health and policy, climate change and adaptation, among others.