George Benneh foundation launched

A Foundation that is aimed at supporting research in the various sectors of the economy, was launched in Accra.

The George Benneh Foundation, named after professor George Benneh, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, also aims at sponsoring the training of postgraduate students in critical teaching and research fields as well as promoting the development of the country's human resource.

In addition, the foundation aims at forstering international understanding and cooporation among higher educational institutions through international education networks.

Launching the Foundation, Nana Dr. S.K.B. Asante, President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, who represented the Asantehene, lauded the objectives of the Foundation saying it would help bridge the research-policy gap.

"The objectives of the Foundation are noble and worthy," he said, adding that research was crucial to the socio-economic growth of the country.

Mr. Benneh, an Emeritus professor of geography and resource development is a distinguished scholar who has served in various areas of academia and contributed to the development of education and research in the country.

He was the head of the University of Ghana's Geography Department before being appointed Vice Chancellor of that university in 1992 and retired in 1996.

Prof. Benneh, who has mentored a number of distinguished researchers and scholars, was appointed the first Rector of the Catholic University of Ghana in 2001, but was unable to assume office due to sudden illness.

He has to his credit over 13 books, and booklets, and 70 publications in geography, environment, land tenure and land use, population, education and public administration.

The Foundation is an initiative of a number of his former students, and colleagues at the University of Ghana who want to use the professor's experience and knowledge to promote research studies in the various sectors of the economy.

"He chose to change the world by changing the worldview of others through scholarship, research and its application for solving societal problems, institutional building and visionary leadership which has received recognition in Ghana as well as universities abroad,"

Dr Jean Aka, chairman of the Foundation said of Prof. Benneh.

He said for four decades, the professor has preoccupied himself with issues concerning knowledge generation and dissemination, focusing particularly on poverty alleviation, population, environment and management.

The Foundation, he said, seeks to promote research into the areas where Prof. Benneh focused on since they are important to national development

The programme, he explained, would source funding from individuals and corporate bodies to be inverted in funds for scholarships.

Target beneficiaries of the programme, he said, would be postgraduate students in undertaking research works that are relevant to the country's socio-economic development.

J.H. Mensah, the Senior Minister and chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, in his keynote address, said the country needed to have a sufficient cadre of world-class academics and professionals to help in nation's development agenda.