KNUST to introduce six new degree programmes

Kumasi, June 21, GNA- Professor Kwesi Andam, Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has announced the introduction of six new Bachelor of Science degree programmes into the study programmes of the University by August this year.

The programmes Sports and Exercise Medicine, Aerospace and Petroleum Engineering, Food Science and Technology, Environmental Science and Post Harvest Technology.

Professor Andam said this when he received assorted books and compact discs, presented by the Ghana Book Trust (GBT) to the KNUST libraries in Kumasi on Monday.

The Sabre Foundation of the United States donated the 11,000 books and 500 compact discs, all valued at 2.5 million US dollars. The books cover subject areas like agricultural engineering, medicine, geological science, computer science, architecture, sports medicine and nursing.

The Vice Chancellor said after the introduction of the six programmes, several other branches of engineering would also be introduced.

Professor Andam said the move is to help the KNUST train the requisite manpower that would be able to fully face up to the challenges of modern world.

Books, he said, had become very expensive since most of those being used at the Universities were printed and publish from outside, thereby making it difficult for the average student to afford them. He said it is in the light of this that intervention of the Trust was most encouraging.

Mr Robert K. Amoako, Executive Director of the GBT, said as part of measures to facilitate supply of books to needy institutions, the GBT is to also open permanent depot in Kumasi by August this year.

The GBT, he said will also in the next two years open a children's library, with an electronic component in Kumasi.

Mr Amoako said the GBT had identified lack of relevant books in the system as a major weakness of most educational institutions and had decided to provide more books.

Madam Helena Asamoah-Hassan, the KNUST Librarian, commended the Trust for its intervention and said the books would not be confined to the central library but be distributed to libraries of other faculties. She, however, appealed to donors to also consider assisting them with books on nautical engineering and law.