University Of Arkansas Signs MoU With Valley View University

The Valley View University (VVU) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UABP) from the United States, to mutually develop critical academic and research areas.

The MoU, which was signed at VVU campus in Accra, was to focus in the areas of agriculture and food security, innovative use of technology and distance learning in academic programmes, education abroad initiative, international student recruitment, and faculty staff professional development.

The MoU, which would elapse in five years but renewable was signed by Dr Laurence B. Alexander, the Chancellor of UABP and Professor Daniel Kwame Bediako, the Vice Chancellor of VVU.

Professor Daniel Kwame Bediako, the Vice Chancellor of the VVU, said as the premier private University in Ghana, it was incumbent on the institution to lead the way in numerous ways.

The way that should be done, he said, was through partnerships with both international and local universities, adding that the School identified the need to partner more in the sciences, focusing first on agriculture.

He said UABP as an institution was doing something significant in the agriculture space and therefore was a right partner for the advancement in the area of agriculture.

The Vice Chancellor added that it was identified through deliberation that the two institutions could work together to get a research laboratory for food and other sciences.

The MoU would cover areas of exchange programmes, helping the VVU to start new areas in agriculture and science in the country.

He said VVU would start the exchange programme next year with five students, adding that the doors of the School was opened to receive more partners for mutual advancement in various areas of academic pursuant.

At the ceremony, Dr Muthusamy Manoharan, the Interim Dean and Director of the School of Agricultural, Fisheries and Human Sciences at the UABP, said the MoU signing was a great opportunity for the two institutions to collaborate in advancing their academic pursuit.

He said the partnership would give many opportunities to students from both institutions of higher learning to acquire more knowledge on the culture of both countries.

He said the two universities could collaborate in a number of programmes such as programmes in aquaculture and fisheries, in agriculture, and in regulatory science.

He said the UABP was proud to have started the programme in regulatory daily science in the 1992, noting that UABP was the first to start the programme in the United States, which was later replicated in other universities.

Dr Manoharan said the University also offered Bachelor of Science in Human Science with emphasis on obesity and human nutrition, adding that 'we are offering some unique and important programmes not only at the academic level but also at research and extension level'.

Dr Isaac Bimpeh Boateng, the Dean of Advancement, Development and Strategic Planning at VVU, said discussions on the MoU started when he was privileged to visit the campus of UABP and was impressed with the level of agriculture and aquaculture development in the School.

He said as part of the agreement, the University will be considering the introduction of different breeds of potatoes to tell the country that there was an endless possibility of growing potatoes that could enrich and nourish young people.

He said the VVU was looking at crop production, fisheries, and other programmes and ultimately considering what the University did not have and what they have as well as considering how to leverage on them.

He said the UABP started sending students on exchange programme three years and that the VVU would start sending some students to the UABP from next year.