25 Jun, 2020 The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a grant of US$800,000 to the University of Ghana, to support the establishment of a Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation in the Humanities. The grant which will run for four years, starting from the 2020/2021 academic year, forms part of an amount of US$4 million the Foundation committed to the University of Ghana in 2016 to enhance scholarship through teaching and research in the Humanities at the University of Ghana.
The proposal was developed and submitted by Professor Kwame Offei (immediate-past Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs) and Professor Samuel Agyei-Mensah, Provost, College of Humanities as Principal Investigators, with immense support from the Vice-Chancellor Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu. Mr. Benedict Fosu Adjei, Senior Assistant Registrar at the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), Mrs. Afia Serwaa Attrams, Research Development Officer, Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID) and Ms. Nancy Owusuaa, Project Administrative Support Staff also contributed significantly in putting the proposal together.
The proposal builds upon a planning grant earlier received from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which enabled the project team to embark on exploratory visits to some institutions in South Africa and United States of America with functional Teaching and Learning Centres. It also involved internal and external stakeholder consultations, including faculty, Deans and academic leaders at the University of Ghana as well as national educational regulatory institutions.
The project aims at strengthening the University’s teaching and learning culture to respond to the needs of key internal stakeholders- our students, and further enhancing the University’s global appeal. The project will support faculty and to a limited extent, postgraduate students in three key areas: teaching excellence, technology and writing support. The objective is to support faculty to shift from purely didactic approaches to teaching and introduce innovative teaching and learning approaches that engender learner participation, experience, and creativity.
The project is also a step ahead in preparation of staff for the recent policy of the Ministry of Education to institute a certification program for all academic staff of tertiary education institutions in Ghana. By this policy, it will become mandatory for faculty to acquire a certificate in teaching before confirmation of appointment. This project therefore provides for built-in systems to be introduced, to enhance the teaching skills of faculty at the University of Ghana. Established in 1969, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation endeavours to strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies. To this end, it supports exemplary institutions of higher education and culture as they renew and provide access to an invaluable heritage of ambitious, path-breaking work.
The University of Ghana is grateful to the Foundation for the continued support for capacity building to respond to emerging transformations taking place in the tertiary education landscape. Congratulations to the Principal Investigators and Administrators for their hard work in putting together the proposal for the grant.
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