Jospong Group builds graduate complex for KNUST

The Jospong Group of Companies, a multi-facetted business entity, has constructed a graduate school complex, at the cost of $1.2 million for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). The complex is named after the Executive Chairman of Zoomlion and Jospong Group of Companies, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyapong.

It comprises offices, conference halls, seminar rooms, and other ancillary services which will make teaching and learning very conducive. Aside from the facility, the company will provide furnishing for the building, a bus, as well as GH¢2 million every year for research work in the school.

Speaking at the inauguration of the school complex in Kumasi last Friday, the Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Professor William Otto Ellis, lauded the company for recognizing the need to promote human resource development through the school. He said KNUST, in the wake of changing trends in the field of higher education, had expanded its frontiers in terms of the number of programmes, programme content, student numbers and infrastructure base, in order to position the school as a key partner in the development of Ghana and Africa. Therefore, he said, the new complex would provide an identity for the university as well as signify its growth and priorities as the leading tertiary educational institution. Professor Ellis expressed optimism that the bond of friendship between the university and the company would grow from strength to strength, adding that, “we are proud that you sowed a very good cause, which is graduate studies, a catalyst for development and social transformation”.

For his part, Dr Agyapong said the success of the company, over the years, had been built around graduates from the KNUST with different specialties. He expressed the hope that the programmes that would be hosted in the new facility would provide great learning experiences for students and facilitate innovation and discovery to develop creative solutions to Ghana’s socio-economic challenges. He said aside from the fact that the facility would benefit the university, it was also an external research department for the Jospong Group, as students would be challenged to research into various areas of sanitation, the outcomes of which would be implemented for national development. He said while the government had taken steps to solve the sanitation challenge in the country by initiating the National Sanitation Day (NSD), the company, in its effort to support the initiative, would also sponsor students to conduct research into other areas of sanitation management.

Additionally, he said, up to 10 students would be sponsored to grow their initiatives on waste management adding that, “Ghanaians need exposure and once you expose the student to other areas, then they will be good at what they do”. Dr Agyapong also pledged the company’s commitment to supporting initiatives as well as fight the sanitation challenge in the country through the capacity building of its staff and in partnership with other government institutions.