REGISTRATION
INFORMATION
World University Rankings - Top 600

DUT’S PROF AGBENYEGAH VISITS TTU TO STRENGTHEN DUT’S FOOTPRINT IN GHANA

DUT’S PROF AGBENYEGAH VISITS TTU TO STRENGTHEN DUT’S FOOTPRINT IN GHANA

The Durban University of Technology (DUT) entered into a collaborative partnership through a signed MoU with Takoradi Technical University (TTU) of Ghana in 2020. TTU has since approved over forty (40) of their staff members to register for doctoral studies with the DUT. During the academic year 2021 various research supporting initiatives were engaged in support of the TTU registered students by the Faculty Research Office (FRO) led by Dr Emem Anwana and her team. Among the student support engagements implemented include online registration, online student induction, proposal development workshops, colloquiums, virtual webinars, online ethics training workshops, supervisors training and journal article writing workshops.

The coordinator of the TTU agreement from the FMS side Prof Albert Tchey Agbenyegah, recently (December 2021) visited TTU to further strengthen DUT’s footprint in Ghana. During his visit, Prof Agbenyegah engaged with the four (4) member DUT-TTU Entrepreneurship Research Group which was established in 2019. A series of meetings were also held with a research group with a view to structure seven (7) journal articles in research areas of rural small businesses and entrepreneurship. The group has agreed to finalise and publish five (5) scientific articles by the end of February 2022. The remaining two (2) papers are designed for collating comparative data of small businesses between South Africa and Ghana and will be published at a later date.

Whilst in TTU, Prof Agbenyegah held several research meetings. The meeting focused on various research related issues including but not limited to feedback from supervisors and examination processes for theses and dissertations. Some of the questions raised centred on the importance of sourcing additional co-supervisors to ensure students are able to execute their projects within the minimum time. The TTU Team and Research Students expressed their satisfaction and appreciation for the programme and in particular the assistance provided by the Faculty Research Office. They were hopeful that DUT will continue to support them throughout their research journey and those studying vowed to complete their studies within the minimum ascribed time duration for their studies.

Finally, Prof Agbenyegah took a few hours to meet the management of TTU, i.e., the Vice Chancellor Rev Prof John Frank Eshun and his team. On behalf of the entire management team the Vice Chancellor Rev Prof John Frank Eshun offered his sincere appreciation for the collaborative and mutually beneficial partnership. He added that he will provide the necessary support to all the present and future postgraduate students. The VC further stated that he looked forward to future research expansion and collaboration between DUT and TTU in Ghana.

On future research and academic activities

TTU management suggested that in future the programme should be expanded to include student and staff exchanges once COVID-19 conditions permit and engagements in joint research and entrepreneurship projects.

The Executive Dean of the FMS Prof Fulu Netswera appreciated the visitation report from Prof Agbenyegah. He thanked Prof Agbenyegah for pumping blood into the veins of this important Pan African research partnership. Prof Netswera promised that the FMS and specifically the FRO will work tirelessly to address all the identified challenges with a view to make sure that all the TTU students are highly satisfied with the learning experience. Furthermore, he indicated that the TTU cooperation has given the FMS a good pilot of managing a research-intensive collaboration worth emulating into the future. He is of the idea that all the TTU students will be guided to publish before they graduate in order to meet the expectations of the recently approved policy.

The DVC Research, Innovation and Engagement expressed her sincere gratitude to the TTU Executive Team, Prof John Frank Eshun, Vice-Chancellor & Principal and Prof Maame Afua Nkrumah, Dean: International Programmes and External Linkages Office (IPELO) for the continued support and vision to ensure this partnership works. Our DUT Executive Team, led by the Vice-Chancellor & Principal, Prof Thandwa Zizwe Mthembu looks forward to the visit in March 2022 by the TTU team, during which time there will be engagements with Faculty here, our entrepreneurs and researchers facilitated by the DUT International Office led by Dr Lavern Samuels.

Pictured: DUT and TTU academics discuss their collaborative partnership at a recent meeting.

Prof Albert Tchey Agbenyegah

No comments