By
Stephen Asante/Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA
Kumasi, July 17, GNA – The College of
Engineering of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST),
has signed an agreement with Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to
establish a Professorial Research Chair in Petroleum Engineering at the
College.
Professor Mark Adom-Asamoah, Provost of the
College, said the agreement which came with a seed money of one million US Dollars
over a four-year period would promote advance research in petroleum
engineering.
Addressing the 52nd congregation of the
University in Kumasi, he said the GNPC in addition, was also complementing
efforts towards strengthening education in the areas of science, technology,
engineering and mathematics.
Consequently, the Corporation has earmarked
GH¢2,436,000.00 as scholarship money to 240 students to cover tuition,
accommodation and monthly stipend.
The Provost disclosed that Tullow Oil, an oil
exploration and production company, had also provided US$400,000 over four
years to support various Engineering programmes at the College.
This is in the form of scholarships for 30
students each year, targeting students from the communities that the Company operated.
The ceremony saw the College presenting 885
students for certificates, and out of this 108 graduated in the First Class
Division, while 10 were awarded Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) degrees.
Prof. Adom-Asamoah indicated that the College
was pursuing its strategic plan of working to make the University a Centre of
Excellence in oil and gas engineering education.
This was being done to produce the requisite
human resource and technocrats to spearhead development and growth in the two
areas to help bolster the nation’s socio-economic growth.
The College, he disclosed, would in the next
academic year, introduce three new undergraduate programmes in Automobile,
Industrial and Marine Engineering to expand the scope of their courses.
GNA