Lancaster University and its partner Trans National Education Ghana Limited announce their plans to set up the first British branch campus in Ghana.
The Accra-based branch campus called Lancaster University Ghana, is the only one of its kind in West Africa and is committed to producing graduates who have skills and knowledge to meet Ghana’s industrial, societal and governmental needs. Lancaster University is currently working with the National Accreditation Board to secure its accreditation with the aim to admit students as soon as possible, which could be as early as October 2013.
The campus will allow students across Africa to access Lancaster’s academic excellence in teaching and research on the African continent and the faculty of the new campus will work to high international standards. Students can expect to be taught by local and Lancaster academic staff.
Students will be able to choose from a range of undergraduate courses in management, business, international relations, computer science, law and psychology and its highly acclaimed Global MBA program amongst other postgraduate courses. The University will also be offering a foundation program.
Professor Mark E. Smith, Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University welcomed the new campus:
“Lancaster University Ghana, will contribute to increasing the pool of internationally educated young people, ready to take their places in developing and growing the Ghanian and wider African economy. It will join existing institutions of higher education to further enhance Ghana’s reputation as an educational hub for West Africa.
“Lancaster is highly regarded for the quality of the education it provides and our thriving alumni network of over 100,000 alumni in 148 countries worldwide are testament to the quality of our degree courses. Our new campus offers students a different learning experience, with the future career benefits of gaining a globally recognised Lancaster degree.”
Rakesh Wahi, founder of TNE Ghana Limited said: “This campus is our first education venture in West Africa and shares the group’s vision of creating a network of branch campus experiences in Africa, through quality teaching, state of the art infrastructure, research led curriculum and innovation in delivery of the curriculum.”
The founders of TNE Ghana Limited, Rakesh Wahi & Zafar Siddiqi, are also the founders of CNBC Africa, Forbes Africa, and the ABN360 group
Lancaster University is a highly successful research intensive university currently ranked in the top one per cent on universities globally. Other measures of success for Lancaster University include:
Ranked 9th in the Times Higher Education 100 Under 50 inaugural league table of the world’s best young universities.
In the UK government’s latest assessment of research quality, 92% of Lancaster’s research is recognised as world leading or internationally significant
Lancaster is ranked 9th out of UK universities in the Complete University Guide 2013. The Guardian ranks Lancaster joint 7th out of 120 UK universities in its University Guide 2013 The Times ranks Lancaster 12th in its Good University Guide out of all UK universities
Rated in top ten UK Universities for employability (Daily Telegraph).
Lancaster has a long history of working with universities and local communities across sub Saharan Africa and in conducting research relevant to people living in Africa.
1. Together with researchers from the University for Development Studies, Lancaster researchers will shortly be giving their recommendations for enhancing university-community relations for sustainable livelihoods in Ghana. This follows a three year British Council project to train academics in participatory action research, working closely with the local communities and involving them in setting the research agenda. By empowering the academics to conduct research that can bring positive change to the lives of local communities, Lancaster University aims to pass on its research expertise.
2. Leading research into the development of water saving techniques for agriculture which has helped farmers in some of the driest regions of the world, has won the University a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education. The Prizes highlight world-class work in Lancaster’s case its contribution to one of the biggest challenges facing humankind – feeding seven billion people against a background of climate change.
3. A team of Lancaster scientists has made a novel discovery that could provide a new strategy for controlling African armyworms and other insect crop pests around the globe. Researchers have been investigating safe, affordable alternative control measures to tackle the caterpillars including exploiting a natural bacterium to multiply the effectiveness of biopesticides. Lancaster scientist Professor Ken Wilson met the Zambian Vice-President, Dr Scott, at his official residence in Lusaka this year to advise on further measures to tackle the crisis of armyworms using an environmentally-safe biopesticide called SpexNPV.
4. The success of the distance learning Lancaster University/British Council African writers mentoring scheme, ‘Crossing Borders’ was followed by the ‘Radiophonics’ project in Uganda and Nigeria, led by Professor Graham Mort. He has led workshops in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe, designed to promote democratic change and public debate in Africa.
Lancaster has considerable expertise and experience in setting up successful teaching partnerships around the world. Lancaster offers its degrees in a number of countries including India, Pakistan and Malaysia and is planning to open a campus in China.
