The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has revealed that government is taking steps to activate the long-anticipated National Research Fund with a seed allocation of GHC50 million.
The announcement was made during the official inauguration of the newly constituted Governing Council of the University of Ghana in Accra on Friday, April 25. "The president has asked me to convince you that this year, he intends to operationalise the National Research Fund, and accordingly, an amount of GHC50 million has been allocated for the take-off of the National Research Fund," Iddrisu told the council and members of the university community.
The fund is expected to significantly boost research output and innovation across tertiary institutions in Ghana, and its implementation comes amid calls from academia for greater state support for scholarly work.
Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony, the Minister also urged the University of Ghana to explore legal and productive partnerships with the private sector to ease infrastructural constraints and improve the student experience. "And then also your affiliate institutions, but more importantly, again, that today the university must sail through an appropriate, legitimate public-private partnership to expand your infrastructure both academic and residential in order that you can go and improve the student population," he stated.
