Professor Adinkrah-Appiah to launch innovation scholarship to uplift brilliant but needy Atuna youth

A new scholarship scheme aimed at expanding access to tertiary education for brilliant but needy students from Atuna in the Bono Region is set to be unveiled on Sunday, January 25, 2026, by Ing. Prof. Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, the Vice-Chancellor of the Sunyani Technical University (STU).

The initiative, dubbed the Ing. Prof. Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah Innovation Educational Scholarship Scheme (IP-KAIESS), is designed to support young men and women from Atuna who gain admission to study innovation-oriented programmes such as Engineering, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Applied Science and Technology, Built Environment and Applied Arts at STU.

Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah, a full professor of civil engineering and the first Vice-Chancellor of STU, said the scheme is a personal response to the hardships he endured in his own educational journey and his desire to ensure that talented youth from deprived communities are not denied higher education because of poverty.

Background
Born and raised in Atuna, a farming community of about 5,000 people near the Ghana–Côte d’Ivoire border, Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah’s academic path was far from smooth. After completing middle school in 1984 at the age of 15 as the best student in his class, financial constraints forced him to abandon school temporarily and take up cocoa farming in a virgin forest area near Sefwi Bonsu Nkwanta.

While his peers progressed to secondary school, he spent two years clearing land and planting cocoa, uncertain whether his dream of becoming a teacher or police officer would ever materialize.

Driven by determination and a deep passion for education, he returned to school in 1986, navigating several institutions in his quest to make up for lost time. His perseverance paid off when he excelled at both O’Level and A'Level examinations, eventually gaining admission to read Civil Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He later earned his MPhil and PhD degrees in Civil Engineering from the same institution, completing his doctorate in 2015.

Today, Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah is widely credited with transforming STU since his appointment as Rector of the then Sunyani Polytechnic in 2016 and subsequently as Vice-Chancellor after its conversion into a full university. Under his leadership, student enrolment has grown from about 4,500 in 2016 to over 10,000 by 2025, alongside improvements in infrastructure, applied research, staff development and teaching and learning systems.

IP-KAIESS
According to him, the IP-KAIESS seeks to replicate such success stories by investing in human capital at the grassroots level. “There are many brilliant young people in Atuna whose potential remains untapped because their families cannot afford tertiary education,” he noted. “This scheme is meant to give them a fair chance to develop their talents and contribute meaningfully to community and national development.”

The scholarship will cover full tuition and mandatory fees, including SRC dues, as stated on the STU admission letter. Hostel fees may also be considered in special cases of critical need. Awards will last for the full four-year duration of the beneficiary’s undergraduate programme, subject to satisfactory academic performance.

To qualify, applicants must be indigenes of Atuna, gain admission into a full-time, four-year undergraduate programme with innovation orientation at STU, and obtain a WASSCE aggregate of 36 or better. Priority will be given to candidates with stronger academic results, those from extremely poor backgrounds or orphans, and female applicants where there is a tie. Beneficiaries are required to maintain a minimum GPA or CGPA of 2.0 to retain the scholarship.

The scheme will be managed by a Board of Trustees made up of community leaders, educators, religious representatives, a diaspora member, and the Dean of Students of STU. The Board will oversee selection, disbursement of funds, monitoring of beneficiaries and fundraising activities, including an annual major fundraising event every January. Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah will serve as the Patron of the scheme.

Funding for IP-KAIESS will come from annual personal contributions by Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah, complemented by donations from friends, family, philanthropic organisations and the Atuna community.

Application
Applications will be submitted annually by September 30, supported by relevant documents, with promotion to be carried out through community announcements and social media. An online application portal is also expected to be launched to streamline the process.

Community leaders in Atuna have welcomed the initiative, describing it as a timely intervention that could inspire a new generation of engineers, technologists and innovators from the area.

For Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah, the goal is clear: to ensure that future scholars from Atuna can pursue higher education without enduring the same obstacles he once faced, and in doing so, help drive sustainable development both locally and beyond.

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