The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has appointed MP for Manso-Nkwanta as chairman of its Foundation Management Board.

Dr Joseph Albert Quarm leads a six-member team to raise funds both locally and internationally for infrastructure and equipment for student training.

The fund will also be used to promote research for staff and scholars.

Vice-Chancellor for KNUST, Prof Kwasi Obiri-Danso, lamented African research has mostly been funded externally to the benefit of financiers.

“Many of the researches that go on in our universities are funded by donor agencies that are outside the country and whose interest it’s often researched on.

“The research must focus on challenges and problems that confront us on a daily basis,” he pointed out.

The new board is tasked to mobilise funds for the foundation which has accrued over GHS3 million since its launch in 2016.

Dr Quarm told the board’s inaugural ceremony, its mandate is crucial in uplifting the image of the university.

“This university envisions to be among the ten top universities in Africa and more so because it’s a science and technology institution.

“No effort should be spared to provide most conducive environment for teaching, learning and research geared towards improvement of socioeconomic conditions of our communities in Ghana and beyond,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Quarm has appealed to the University Council to appoint a female on to the board “to balance our work with some feminine perspective.”

“You may appoint or give us a mandate to appoint one,” he asked.