UPSA to launch new campus at Amanfo
Accra, Nov. 23, GNA – Professor Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), has said the construction of the University’s new campus at Amanfo near Bekwai in the Ashanti Region will begin in 2020.
He expressed gratitude to Nana Opoku Ampomah, the founder of the UPSA for graciously offering them a 35-acre land at Amanfo near Bekwai, for the construction of another UPSA campus.
« While at that, I would also like to thank the Asantehene for his swift intervention in averting a legal battle regarding the said land, » he said.
Prof Amartey made this known over the weekend in his welcome address during the UPSA’s Annual Leadership Lectures.
The lecture on the theme « Leadership: Strengthen Democratic Institutions for National Development », was delivered by Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene.
In attendance were high profile personalities such as former President John Agyekum Kufuor, Nana Otuo Siriboe, Omanhene of the Juabeng Traditional Area and Chairman of the Council of State, and Nana Opoku Ampomah, a traditional ruler and Founder of the UPSA.
The leadership lecture was instituted to strengthen the stature of the University as it strives to improve on scholarship, research and professionalism.
It coincided with the launch of UPSA’s 55th Anniversary and the 20th Anniversary of the distinguished keynote speaker since his enstoolment as the 16th occupant of the Golden Stool.
Prof Amartey said: “As a professional institution, one of the finest gifts we can give our nation is to provide a platform like this to reflect on leadership and how we can use leadership to push a progressive and prosperous national agenda for all.”
“For a country that is part of a continent that many say needs good leadership rather than charity, this is the least we could do, with the hope that these intellectual engagements will be seeds that will grow to bear good fruits and impact this generation and beyond.”
He said the Asantehene, aside being an alumnus of the UPSA, is a true member of the University community.
The Vice-Chancellor recalled that in 2013, the Asantehene graciously gave the seed money of GH¢100,000.00 for the establishment of the Otumfuo Centre for Traditional Leadership.
Prof Amartey said this centre has, over the years, been providing capacity-building training programmes for traditional leaders in the areas of strategic planning for community development, community and resource management, conflict management, and documentation skills, amongst others.
He said this year alone the University has won various awards, which are an indication of the good fruits their labour was yielding.
He said at the recently held Ghana Business Awards, UPSA received ‘the Industry Leader’ Award; stating that the Charted Institute of Marketing-Ghana (CIMG) also conferred on the Vice–Chancellor the award of ‘Marketing Man of the Year’.
“The team from the Department of Communication Studies also won the 2019 Inter-university Newsroom Context; and the Media and Website Coordination Unit (MWCU) of the University was adjudged the ‘Most Eminent PR/Corporate Communications Team of the Year’ at the 2019 National Communications Awards,” Prof Amartey said.
“To top it all, the Institute of Directors-Ghana (OID-GHANA) has adjudged UPSA ‘the Best Corporate Governance Compliant in the Education Category’, an award which will be given tonight at the Ghana Corporate Governance Excellence Awards for Public and Private Sector Actors,” he added.
He said kudos to the hardworking faculty, staff, students, as well as all stakeholders of the University.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu called for conscious efforts to engage traditional leaders in the discussion and determination of national priorities.
« It is a matter of concern that grave issues of national development, relating to allocation of resources and the determination of our national priorities, are all determined without the engagement of our traditional leaders at any level. »
« Given our history, our culture and tradition, the weight of accumulated wisdom embedded in our institution, it beats the imagination that traditional leaders are all left as bystanders while the real issues of state are being decided, » he added.
