University of Ghana Alumni Association North America Calls on Vice-Chancellor

(The Vice-Chancellor with Prof. Dartey-Baah (left) and Dr. Darku (right))

The Vice President of the University of Ghana Alumni Association, North America (UGAANA), Dr. Alexander Bilson Darku, has paid a visit to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana (UG), Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo.

Speaking at the meeting, Dr. Darku thanked the Office of Institutional Advancement (OIA) for arranging the meeting and congratulated Prof. Amfo on making history as the first female Vice-Chancellor of the Premier University. Dr. Darku, who spoke on behalf of UGAANA, reiterated that the Association’s existence depended on UG.  He further shed light on some activities that UGAANA had undertaken with the help of the Alumni Relations Office of the OIA, notably the provision of prosthetics for Emmanuella (a student of the University) and the partnership with the Students Financial Aid office to provide scholarships for needy brilliant students.

Dr. Darku announced that plans were underway to launch an Endowment fund in the United States of America and suggested that discussions on the fund be initiated prior to the event.

On her part, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Amfo, welcomed Dr. Darku and said that she had been made aware of some of the activities of UGAANA. She noted that UGAANA was a relatively young association (established in 2017) and commended them on the discussions they had commenced with the Office of Students with Special Needs, stating that the office would greatly benefit from the collaboration. On other opportunities to help the University, the Vice-Chancellor cited projects such as the modernisation of classrooms and the ONE STUDENT ONE LAPTOP campaign which, she said, may be of interest to the Association. Prof. Amfo also mentioned that infrastructure remained an issue of concern and indicated that the UG Credit Union had plans of building a new emergency block for the UG Hospital. 

The Vice-Chancellor further recounted the transformation in the operations of the University caused by Covid-19 which called for tools and equipment that support non-contact education, hence her initiative of the ONE STUDENT ONE LAPTOP Policy to provide the kind of environment that allows students to purchase laptops at affordable prices.

Concerning the endowment fund, Prof. Amfo noted that there was already an existing fund in the University, the UG@70 Endowment Fund. She indicated that the University has a vision to become a research-intensive institution and so the current endowment fund would be geared towards supporting more graduate students to access opportunities for cutting-edge research. She reiterated that the UG@70 Endowment Fund would be managed as professionally as possible to generate donors and stakeholders’ confidence in the Fund.

In attendance at the meeting were the Acting Director of the OIA, Prof. Samuel K. Dartey-Baah, who thanked the Vice-Chancellor for her time and the Assistant Registrar responsible for Alumni Relations, Ms. Adwoa Abrokwa.