Distinguished ladies and gentlemen
On behalf of Koforidua Technical University, I welcome you to this special ceremony.
In November last year, a delegation from Koforidua Technical University participated in a match-making event in Germany. This event, facilitated by DAAD, sought to assist newly re-designated Technical Universities in Ghana to identify Technical Universities in Germany for partnership. Thank God we found our perfect match in Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences. Over the past five days, we have enjoyed the privilege of hosting a high-powered delegation from this German Technical University.
This delegation is led by Prof. Dr. Klaus Zeppenfield, President of the University, and over the past few days, we have been exploring the opportunities for cooperation and partnership Ur the mutual benefit of both institutions.
For us at KTU, this visit is most opportune because, having just been converted into a Technical University, we recognize that Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences has travelled several miles on the route we have just chosen. And we stand a lot to gain from the Hamm-Lippstadt experience in this direction. Their state of the art educational facilities and their industry-oriented technical expertise make this German university a perfect model for KTU. More importantly, this visit provides KTU an opportunity to fulfill an essential requirement of the Technical Universities Act by which we are established. Section 42 of this Act stipulates among other things that:
A Technical University shall in its operations enter into partnership with accredited universities bin the country or abroad relevant to the mission of the Technical University for a period of five years or as may be determined by NCTE.
I also believe that our unique features as the first public university in the Eastern Region and one with a fresh mandate to provide science, technology and vocational education to the highest level, we provide an opportunity for our partner institution to learn from a new version of their own in a developing African democratic environment.
During this visit, our two institutions have engaged in very open interaction and critical deliberation on how we can together promote purposeful education and research for the mutual benefit of our two countries and for the advancement of humanity. Our engagement throughout their stay has been a been a perfect blend of work with pleasure and it has culminated in the Memorandum of Understanding we are about to sign this morning.
Among the strategies by which we seek to consummate this partnership are the following:
- Staff and Student Exchange
- Joint Research, Publication and Grant Application
- Development of Jo: Degree Programs
- Institutional mentoring.
I believe that Prof. Dr. Klaus Zeppenfield and his team have found their visit fruitful and memorable. And I am convinced that this visit marks the beginning of greater and better things to come.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen:
May our two Universities be counted among the institutions that most significantly make the world a much better habitat for humanity. And may God bless our two nations.
Welcome once again.
And thank you for coming.
SPEECH PROF. ZEPPENFELD
First of all, I would like to say thank you on behalf of the whole delegation for the warm welcome at Koforidua Technical University. It has been a great pleasure for us to be here to start our cooperation.
Ghana and Germany have already been connected for a long time. This is especially true for the region where we live. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia and Ghana have been working together for decades in areas such as economy, science and research, youth and education. In 2007, the cooptation attained an even stronger foundation with a Partnership Agreement.
It was in this context that only a couple of months ago, the heads of several Ghanaian universities and the heads of the universities of applied sciences got together at a workshop at the Ministry of Education in our state capital Dusseldorf. In our first meeting Vice- Chancellor Dzisi and I soon discovered many similarities between our two universities:
Both, KTU and Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences are quite young. As you all know, the former Koforidua Polytechnic was founded in 1997 and was converted as one of the first polytechnics in Ghana into a Technical University last year. HSHL is even a little younger as it was founded from scratch in 2009. During the last 20 or 8 years, respectively, both universities have made a lot of progress. The student population has increased steadily and the number of programs continues to grow. As a matter of fact, we both have the same number of bachelor degree programs at the moment.
But what is more important is our commitment to provide excellent education for our students. Both of our universities have the objective to educate students for a successful work life in the fields of engineering and business. We are proud to have developed practice- oriented study courses with a clear orientation towards current and future market requirements.
Last, but not least we both seek to build up a network of partner universities to exchange ideas, students and staff and to support each other in developing our internationalization.
Although HSHL has already several partnerships .. th universities worldwide, so far we did not have a partner university on the African continent. Therefore, I am very proud that we are about to sign the Memorandum of Understating today – and that not even 4 months after our first encounter in Germany! ActualK .as have told you before, it took only about 5 minutes until Prof. Smile and I had settled everything!
I believe we can learn a lot from each other’s experiences and I am looking forward to a fruitful cooperation!
During the last couple of days we already had plenty of time for professional exchange and interesting discussions. We could identify many ideas for joint cooperations and projects – our colleagues just presented to us the perspectives for our joint future. We also discussed the possibility of student and staff exchange. It would be a great opportunity for our students to spend a semester abroad at your university. And in return, we would be very glad to welcome your students at our university in Germany.
For most members of our delegation it has been the first visit to Ghana, but I think it will not be the last! Of course 5 days is way too short to get to know a country, its people and its culture. However, although it was short, I believe we got a really good impression of your beautiful country. We were really impressed by the warm hospitality. From the very start we were among friends and you made us feel at home. We enjoyed the local food and the local beer. And we spent two great evenings dancing together! I must admit, we can definitely learn from you when it comes to swinging our hips…
The landscape we saw was just gorgeous. Together we climbed the second highest hill of Ghana!
I think I can speak for all of us that we will not only cheer for the German football team but for the Black Stars as well during the next world cup!
I am looking forward to welcoming a delegation from Koforidua Technical University in Germany soon! And until then I can only say-we are just an email away!
Thank you for making our time here so special – or:
Me da se and je beshia bium (Vielen Dank und wir sehen uns bald wieder!
