Ghana: UPSA Hosts President of Somalia-Based Magadishu University
Accra, 25 Jan 2014 (SDN) –The President of Somalia-based Magadishu University, Prof Ali Sheikh Ahmed paid a working visit to the University of Professional Studies (UPSA) in Accra where he met the Vice Chancellor Professor Joshua Alabi and members of the management team recently.
Prof. Shiekh Ahmed, who is on a three-day tour, said he was in Ghana to learn about how governance institutions had evolved and seek collaborative partnerships with other fast growing universities to help provide training and capacity support to his university.
“The UPSA is the first university we are visiting since our arrival in Ghana and we would like to explore the options available for future exchange programmes between professionals, teachers, lecturers and students,” said Prof. Sheikh Ahmed, who was accompanied by his International Relations Officer and interpreter, Abdullahi Abdi Mohammed.
The President of the Mogadishu University further spoke on the importance of leadership development in the university.
“As members of the Association of African Universities, our focus is how our university and others in the international community can work together on leadership development through training and capacity building programmes.
The UPSA Vice-Chancellor, Prof Alabi commended Prof. Sheikh Ahmed for his efforts and said that “student and academic staff exchange programmes are pursued to share ideas, and to learn about what other universities are doing to build capacity and improve upon the work of your own university.”
Prof. Alabi disclosed that his team would work on a draft partnership agreement that would be of mutual benefit to them and hoped that both universities would be committed to implementing the terms of the agreement.
“Looking at our cultural diversity, I am confident that this partnership will be beneficial to both universities,” he said.
Earlier, Prof. Alabi took the visitors through a short history of the UPSA, the academic and professional programmes and its vision of becoming a centre of excellence in business higher education and professional programmes in Africa and beyond.
Other members of the UPSA management team comprised the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Anthony K. Ahiawodzi and the Registrar, Dr. Seidu Mohammed Mustapha.
The Mogadishu University is a non-governmental, not-for-profit higher education institution, which was established by a team of lecturers in the war-ravaged country.
It runs academic programmes in the science and humanities with a current student population of about 5,000.
It is also a member of the Association of African Universities and the Arab League Universities, among others.
Source: spyghana.com