Twenty-one university presidents, vice-presidents and provosts of German universities are in Ghana for a week’s visit aimed at strengthening academic cooperation and deepening strategic ties between Ghanaian and German universities.
Organised by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as part of its Higher Education Policy Information Visit, the information visit for senior university leadership would offer direct engagement with partner institutions and policymakers to gain first-hand insight.
DAAD is a German organisation that fosters mutual exchanges of students and researchers from Germany and the world.
While here, the team will visit some of Ghana’s universities, including the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the University of Ghana and the Ashesi University.
A media briefing was held ahead of a reception organised for the team by the German Embassy in Ghana last Monday, March 23, where the German Ambassador to Ghana, Frederik Landshöft, said Germany and Ghana share a strong and growing partnership in higher education and research, which had become a key pillar of broader bilateral relations and foreign policy engagement.
He said with 69 active university partnerships, Germany and Ghana were connected through one of the most dynamic academic networks in Africa-Europe cooperation.
“Our cooperation is also tangible beyond universities.
Currently, six major German-Ghanaian scientific cooperation projects are underway addressing global challenges such as health, climate, agriculture and digital transformation. At the heart of all these partnerships are young people.
Academic exchange empowers the next generation with skills, international experience and the ability to shape both our societies in an interconnected world,” he said.
Students
He said currently, nearly 3,000 Ghanaian students in Germany were not only pursuing academic excellence, but they were also bridging cultures, acting as informal ambassadors of Ghana in Germany and of Germany in Ghana.
At the same time, he added, a growing number of German students were studying and conducting research in Ghana, reflecting the country’s increasing importance as a hub of knowledge and innovation.
Mr Landshöft said those exchanges create a dense network of personal connections that form the foundation of resilient, forward-looking partnerships that were essential in times of global uncertainty.
The ambassador said Germany remained committed to further deepening cooperation with Ghana, expanding joint research, strengthening mobility and investing in young talent as a foundation for sustainable development, innovation and shared prosperity.
Collaborations
The Secretary General of DAAD, Dr Kai Sicks, said over the past five years, they had seen the number of students from Ghana who come to Germany doubled and about 50 per cent of those students afterwards come back to Ghana to work here.
He said across both countries, there was a very dense network of collaborations in the field of academia, and they were here to make use of those close collaborations that they already had and to intensify and further develop them into even closer networks.
For her part, the Head of Delegation, Professor Juliane Winkelmann of the Technical University of Munich, cited the benefits of strong partnerships her university has with KNUST and the West African Genetic Medicine Centre of the University in Ghana that were yielding benefits.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh