A university is to be established by the Islamic Council for Development and Humanitarian Services (ICODEHS) at Tuba in the Weija municipality in the Greater Accra Region. Work on the $10-million project is expected to start by the end of the year and completed within three years. The facilities to be put up on the 20.5 acres acquired from the chiefs of Tuba will include lecture halls, libraries, laboratories and offices. The Dubai Charity Society of the United Arab Emirates is the major sponsor of the project. The Executive Chairman of ICODEHS, Sheikh Mustapha Ibrahim, told the Daily Graphic that the university will run courses in Business, Nursing, Information Communications Technology (ICT) and the Humanities. Sheikh Mustapha said the decision to put up the university is in recognition of the importance of education. It is also to complement the government’s efforts at offering quality education to the citizenry. “Education is crucial to the development of the human resource and, by extension, the development of the country, hence the decision to establish the university,” he stressed. Sheikh Mustapha said the university will be open to the public, irrespective of applicants’ religion, gender or tribe. According to him, scholarship packages will be given to brilliant, needy students. Meanwhile, Sheikh Mustapha said three committees, namely academic affairs, physical infrastructure and finance, had been set up to supervise the project. He said the Academic Affairs Committee had already started consultations with the National Accreditation Board on accreditation for the various courses. Sheikh Mustapha said ICODEHS might consider admitting the first batch of students and accommodating them in rented premises before the completion of the university project. There are five public and about 12 private degree-awarding institutions in Ghana. Source: Daily Graphic