Meet our Members: University of Ghana
For the University of Ghana, its commitment to internationalisation and its continued membership in the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) is not simply about research collaboration and academic partnership; it’s political.
The University is a long-standing member of WUN, joining in 2015 as it sought to become an engaged, world-class, research-intensive university while strengthening Ghana’s and Africa’s contribution to global knowledge. In the intervening years, the University has refined this intention, with Vice-Chancellor Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, who was appointed five years ago, calling for equitable partnerships.
“Equitable partnerships must recognise African knowledge systems as legitimate, not treat our institutions as mere data collection sites. Research outcomes, ideas, data and intellectual property must be shared fairly and transparently.”
Professor Amfo warns that Africa risks remaining a “site of data extraction” in global research unless the continent strengthens its control over knowledge production, research funding and intellectual agenda-setting.
University of Ghana academics currently lead, as principal investigators, two WUN collaborative research projects: Evidence Gap Mapping on Transformative Foods for Sustainable Food Systems in Africa and (Inter-) national Audiovisual Industries and Religious Minorities: Policy and Best Practices for Equality, Justice and Empowerment. Furthermore, the University’s researchers are actively involved, as co-investigators, in 35 projects. This includes the project, Supporting Undergraduate Nurses’ Palliative Care Education Needs. It involves researchers from three African universities (University of Ghana, Makerere University and the University of Cape Town) along with colleagues from the University of Alberta, the University of Auckland, and the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield.
Professor Amfo celebrates the level of academic engagement and research among WUN members. “WUN is a global leader in supporting collaborative research spanning the world.” Yet she also laments Africa’s heavy reliance on external research funding, with 97 per cent of research funding across Africa coming from external sources. “This leaves the continent largely on the receiving end of global knowledge production.” For her, research funding is closely connected to intellectual independence.
The Worldwide Universities Network is currently chaired by Professor Amfo. The organisation has a new strategic direction which will see it undertake fewer, higher-impact collaborations supported by strong institutional commitments, external income and measurable outcomes.