Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, has reiterated the University’s commitment to becoming a world-class research-intensive institution.

She was speaking at the University of Ghana’s Great Hall during the first in a 15-part series of congregation ceremonies which will see the graduation of 15,549 students.

This number includes 120 PhDs, 3,389 at the Masters’ level, and 10,504 at the undergraduate level and 611 at the non-degree level. 

According to Professor Appiah Amfo, the University of Ghana in the past year has seen extraordinary success in the domain of research.

This has been marked by significant grant awards given to students to further their research into diverse subjects.

Highlighting some of these grants, she said; "During the University of Ghana Research Fund (UGRF) 14th Call, over GHS 800,000 was disbursed to 17 grantees to undertake research. In addition, a little over USD 14,000 was awarded as conference grants for attendance at and organisation of conferences."

"Between September 1 and November 30, 2023, 27 new external grants were signed through the Office of Research Innovation and Development (ORID) and the Colleges with a total value of nearly $5 million."

As per the Vice Chancellor, the increase in grant permits is evidence of the institution’s growing international recognition.

“This remarkable achievement highlights our research capabilities and strengthens our position as a leading institution in global research and innovation,” she buttressed.

In pursuance of higher achievement in research areas, the University has renewed its partnership with the Gerda Henkel Foundation of Germany to support the training of PhD students in the Humanities, the Vice Chancellor stated.

She added that the Foundation’s board has approved funding for the fourth year for the existing three cohorts of students and has extended the project to run for 10 years with a budget of approximately USD 3.7m.

“The partnership seeks to strengthen teaching and research in the humanities and also establish the University of Ghana as a sub-regional hub for training PhD scholars in the historical humanities.

“Since its inception at the University of Ghana in 2019, the programme has successfully supported 30 students, including 14 Ghanaians and 16 students from Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda,” she said.

Meanwhile, the University of Ghana has been ranked among the top 6.1% of world-class universities in the 2023 edition of the Global 2000 List developed by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR).

This, the Vice Chancellor said solidifies the University's position as the leading tertiary institution in Ghana and one of the best on the continent.

The CWUR's rigorous assessment process evaluated 20,531 universities worldwide, with only the top 2000 making it to the Global 2000 list.

The rankings were based on seven objective indicators across four areas, which are, education quality, alumni employment, faculty quality, and research performance.

University of Ghana secured the top spot in Ghana.

In the West Africa Region, the University of Ghana's remarkable performance positioned it as the second-best University.