TU Dortmund opens liaison office in Ghana with university partners

Together with five other universities from North Rhine-Westphalia, the TU Dortmund opened a liaison office in Ghana's capital Accra on July 18. The aim of the consortium called Ghana-NRW-University Alliance is to promote the exchange in science and studies between the West African country and the six NRW universities.

The University of Cologne is the consortium leader for the new liaison office. In addition to the TU Dortmund University, other members are the University of Duisburg-Essen, the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences and the University of Siegen. The newly established liaison office of the consortium is located in the premises of the Goethe-Institut in the Ghanaian capital Accra. The opening ceremony took place during a networking reception at the residence of the German ambassador in Accra, to which long-standing partners from Ghana as well as numerous guests from the Ghanaian scientific community were invited.

The aim of the office is to improve the networking and visibility of the local universities, both in the area of student recruitment and in the area of research cooperation. It will initially be financed by the consortium partners for a period of three years. The on-site management is in the hands of Dr. Beatrice Asenso Barnieh, who has excellent contacts in the Ghanaian university and research landscape. The geoscientist herself comes from Ghana and has lived for several years in Germany, the Netherlands and China, among other places, as part of research and study stays.

TU cooperation with Ghanaian universities

The TU Dortmund University already has contacts and relationships in Ghana through university partnerships: The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is one of the five partner universities for the international Master Spatial Planning for Regions in Growing Economies (SPRING) of the Faculty of Spatial Planning. In addition, the Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences has a partnership with the University of Education, Winneba (UEW). Prof. Tessa Flatten, Vice Rector International Affairs, was pleased about the opening of the liaison office and stated: "The region of West Africa and Ghana in particular offers enormous potential with regard to cooperation in research and attracting excellent students. The liaison office will help support and strengthen existing partnerships and initiate promising new contacts."

 

Contact for inquiries:

Thomas Oeldemann

Rectorate Officer for International Affairs

Phone: 0231 - 755 7558

E-mail: thomas.oeldemann@tu-dortmund.de