President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Wednesday, inaugurated the Obuasi Campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University (KNUST) at a brief ceremony in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region.
The idea to establish the Obuasi Campus of KNUST came up last year (22nd January 2019), when President Akufo-Addo launched the Obuasi Mine Redevelopment Project in Obuasi.
Narrating the process that led to the establishment of the Campus, the Paramount Chief of Bompata Traditional Area, Nana Effa Apenteng, who is Chairperson of the Governing Council of KNUST, said: “in the presence of the Chancellor of the University, His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, you (President Akufo-Addo) magnanimously agreed to support its establishment.”
That, he said, was welcoming news to the University as it perfectly fitted into its strategy to increase access to science and technology education.
“Subsequently, the Obuasi Municipal Assembly and Anglogold Ashanti made land and buildings available for the initial infrastructural needs of the campus. As providence will have it, here we are today, witnessing the inauguration of the KNUST Obuasi Campus,” the Paramount Chief stated.
He was confident that the Obuasi Campus would soon develop into a fully-fledged University just as the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa and the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani, which were all satellite campuses of KNUST.
Nana Effa Appenteng revealed that programmes for the Obuasi Campus have thus been carefully selected to suit the vision of the University.
“We began this Campus during the 2019/2020 academic year, with Engineering, specifically Civil, Geomatic, Mechanical and Materials Engineering. The other programmes are logistics and supply chain management and environmental science,” he added.
With a total of 342 students admitted to the Campus during the 2019/2020 academic year, the Chairperson of the Governing Council indicated that the University is envisaging to admit about 1,500 students, as engagements have already been concluded to introduce new programmes in the field of health such as General Nursing, Midwifery and Medical Laboratory Science.
He thanked President Akufo-Addo for giving clearance to the University to enable it to recruit 420 staff members this year.
On his part, President Akufo-Addo assured of the government’s commitment towards the growth and development of the University, promising that the necessary structures would be availed to the Obuasi campus.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD
