STU students introduced to International Facility Management Association

The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) is pushing for the study of Facility Management as a major programme in universities in Ghana, especially in technical universities to enhance the training of more qualified professionals to properly manage public and private facilities.

This came to light when some officials of IFMA met with students pursuing Bachelor of Technology (B-Tech) degree and Higher National Diploma (HND) in Building Technology, Construction Technology and Civil Engineering at the Sunyani Technical University.

The meeting was to introduce the students to the Association and what they stand to gain upon becoming members in future.

Founded in 1980, IFMA is the world's largest and most widely recognized international association for facility management professionals, supporting over 24,000 members in more than 104 countries.

Mr Andrew Mensah, the Vice-President of IFMA, explained that the Association “is a member-centric association that exists to guide and develop facility management professionals by providing exceptional services, products, resources and opportunities.”

Amongst others, he said, the Association certifies facility managers, conducts research, provides learning and networking opportunities, recognizes facility management degree and certificate programs and produces world workplace, the largest facility management-related conference and exposition.

For his part, the President of IFMA, Sampson Opare Agyeman, touched on the need to advance the visibility of Facility Management (FM) in Ghana saying “if you go to Dubai today, they’re importing Facility Managers because they want to ensure that their built environment is functioning properly. Facility Managers design, build and manage. We do more with the end-users of the facility.”

Mr Opare Agyeman mentioned the lack of industrial data and understanding of the value of FM by governments, business owners and financial institutions as well as the lack of adequate skilled man-power as some of the challenges militating against the IFMA.

The Head of the Building Technology Department of Sunyani Technical University, Emmanuel Nsiah Ankomah, announced that from the next academic year, the university would offer a degree programme in Facility Management.

He explained that STU had already obtained approval from the National Council for Technical Education and currently working on the curriculum for final approval by the National Accreditation Board.

Present at the meeting were the Dean of Faculty of Built Environment and Applied Arts, Dr. Zoya Evans Kpamma and the Public Relations Officer of STU, Dickson Kyere-Duah.