The Minister of Education, also MP for Bosomtwe, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has said the Akufo-Addo led government is ready to partner with various stakeholders including Private Sector Operators to provide the much-needed infrastructure for all the institutions across the country.
According to him, the Government will continue to intensify efforts to increase access, relevance and the quality of our tertiary education delivery.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum said this when joined President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to cut the sod for the construction of the Second Phase of the University of Engineering and Agricultural Sciences at Bunso in the Eastern Region on 20th May 2022.
The project is being funded by the Export-Import Bank of Korea and the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) of the Republic of Korea at the cost of ninety-million-dollar (US$90,000,000) for the construction of the Bunso Campus.
The Bunso UEAS campus when completed in the next 24 months will be the second public University in the Eastern Region, which will focus on satisfying human resource demands from domestic industries.
The Minister of Education, in two months ago signed the contract with the Chief Representative of the Korea Eximbank, Accra Office, Lee Hyonjong, in his office.
Dr Yaw Adutwum explained that the Bank had approved a 2nd phase of the Project for two additional Schools namely the built environment and Computer Sciences at an estimated cost of $120m.
The Korean Exim Bank as part of the project also embraced the Government’s policy for the advancement of STEM education at the high school level.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo three years ago inaugurated the first phase of infrastructural development at the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) at Somanya, paving the way for the admission of the first batch of undergraduate students in the next academic year.
The first phase, which cost 45,575.000 Euros, includes 13 lecture halls with a total seating capacity of 1,545, a video conference room, computer research rooms, offices for lectures, a multi-purpose hall block for the school of Natural and Environmental Sciences with a seating capacity of 252 and dining hall to seat 100 people.
Others are a laboratory building for the School of Agriculture and Agro Entrepreneurship Development, an administration block, an 80-bed hostel, an infirmary and residences of the Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum speaking at the ceremony said “I am confident that the consultants and contractors shall work within the schedule so that in the next 24 months, the Standalone University in Bunso will be ready to start admissions”.
He expressed gratitude to the Korean government for the partnership to invest in the Tertiary Education sector.
