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Current News | Archived News | Media Coverage
News from 2000
Haas professors to serve as external examiners
Dec 2000
The academic advisory council on Ashesi's business curriculum, based at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, has agreed to serve an external examiner role for Ashesi University. Ghana's National Accreditation Board requires that newly established universities be monitored by such examiners during its first years of operation. The process involves reviews of final examinations, both prior to and after they have been administered and graded. The Haas advisory council has also agreed to participate in faculty development and training efforts.
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Campus development
Dec 2000
A team of US and Ghanaian architects have begun to localize Ashesi's conceptual campus design to fit the site we have chosen in Berekuso. Our US architects spent five weeks in Ghana from November to December 2000, working on everything from researching locally available materials and their costs to mapping out a new campus layout that optimized the features of our Berekuso site.
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Future campus site is chosen
Jul 2000
After a long search and a challenging decision-making process, Ashesi has identified what will likely be the site of its future campus. Berekuso (pronounced bray-koo-soo) is located on a mountain ridge running northwest of Accra, Ghana's capital. The hilltop site, which is approximately 40 minutes away from downtown Accra, features lush green landscape and impressive views of Accra and its neighboring city of Tema.
Berekuso is home to a farming village of approximately 5,000 people. The local chief, Nana Oteng-Korankye II, is a strong proponent of education and considers the location of Ashesi University in his region as a wonderful opportunity to develop his village, help his people economically and raise awareness of Berekuso throughout Ghana. In fact, as we contemplated our campus location options, the potential impact that Ashesi could have on this community presented a compelling advantage to locating in Berekuso. Other factors that had to be considered were cost, proximity to Accra, availability of infrastructure such as water and road access, and legal status of the land. The land search began last year and accelerated in April when we hired an attorney and land economist to help us assess land values, perform title searches and zoning checks, and evaluate infrastructure such as water, electricity and telephones at each site. The process of evaluating and buying land in a country with ambiguous land laws and spotty infrastructure presented us with our greatest challenge to date. There is still much due diligence work and negotiating that needs to take place before we finalize a long-term lease on the land, but we are very excited to be this much closer to establishing a significant presence in Ghana.
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Ashesi clears step one of accreditation process
Jul 2000
In June, we started the process of formally applying for institutional accreditation with the Ghanaian Ministry of Education. This is a prerequisite to commencing operations as a university - or even recruiting students to the university. We met in June with a subset of the National Accreditation Board and were very warmly received. It was clear that each of the representatives had thoroughly reviewed our application. They were prepared with some tough questions, but also appeared to be genuinely impressed with our approach and plans.
In support of our accreditation application, we also began discussions with the registrar at University of Ghana, Legon, about affiliating with his institution. The registrar, Mr. Konu, was very supportive and encouraged us not only to follow through on our plans to establish Ashesi, but also to make a formal proposal to the academic board and the board of regents at the University of Ghana. After reviewing our proposal and meeting with us to discuss our plans going forward, the National Accreditation Board has granted Ashesi "interim authority" to proceed as planned. We are delighted to have passed this first step in the accreditation process.
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Neil Collins joins as eighth trustee
Apr 2000
Neil Collins of Seattle's Quadra Capital Management has joined Ashesi University Foundation's board of trustees as the eighth member of our board. Neil brings extensive experience and expertise in financial asset management to the board, which strengthens our ability to soundly manage Ashesi's international assets. "From the name to the curriculum, Ashesi's mission to establish a private university in Ghana is a thoughtful, well reasoned step in bringing lasting economic and social development to Africa. I am excited to be part of such a bold endeavor."
We consider ourselves fortunate to have peaked Neil's strong interest and warmly welcome him onto the Ashesi team.
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Curriculum design is complete
Apr 2000
Thanks to great input from members of our academic advisory councils, we have completed the design of Ashesi's academic curriculum. The four-year bachelor's degree program will begin with a core liberal arts curriculum common to all students before breaking into separate programs for business administration and computer science. The core curriculum focuses on the development of students' critical thinking, analytical and communication skills. It also grounds students in fundamental technical knowledge upon which the business administration and computer science programs will build. For a more detailed description of the curriculum, please see our Academics section.
In all, 24 individuals contributed to the development of Ashesi's curriculum, including professors from Swarthmore College, Moravian College, UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and University of Washington's computer science program, as well as a former software architect from Microsoft Corporation. We believe that the curriculum they have designed for Ashesi will help fulfill our mission of fostering excellence in scholarship, leadership and citizenship in future generations of Ghana's business leaders. We truly appreciate the efforts of these contributors - which sometimes involved lively academic and philosophical debates - and look forward to their continued input as we move forward.
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Ashesi establishes office in Ghana
Apr 2000
Ashesi has leased office space in Accra, Ghana's capital, and established its first physical presence in Ghana. Our operations manager George Dake assisted in finding appropriate space and setting up our office, which has plenty of capacity to keep up with our expansion plans until school campus facilities are ready.
Our contact information in Accra is:
Ashesi University Foundation
146 5th Ring Way Close
PMB CT3, Cantonments
Accra, Ghana
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Ashesi makes first full-time hire in Ghana
Feb 2000
Ashesi made its first full-time hire in Ghana when it offered George Dake the post of Operations Manager beginning March 1, 2000. Dake has been working for Ashesi as a research assistant on a part-time basis since November 1999, and has been involved primarily with locating office space for Ashesi and gathering information on land acquisition options for the university's permanent campus. As Operations Manager, Dake will continue to work on lease and land acquisition issues, and will also help establish Ashesi's presence in Accra, including incorporation and registration procedures, setting up an office, and conducting research as needed for Ashesi's planning activities. Dake's strong professional experience in Ghana's nonprofit and educational sectors, his enthusiasm for Ashesi's mission, and his integrity make him a great addition to the Ashesi team. We are very excited to have Dake join us on a full-time basis.
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Ashesi's tax-exempt status approved by IRS
Jan 2000
Ashesi University Foundation has been granted tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service, having qualified as a non-profit, public benefit corporation as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. As a result, all donations to Ashesi are now tax deductible. This also means that the foundation is eligible to participate in many corporate matching programs.
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Clif Kussmaul joins Ashesi's Core Curriculum Advisory Council
Jan 2000
Clif Kussmaul, Assistant Professor and Acting Chair of Computer Science at Moravian College, has joined Ashesi's core curriculum advisory council. Clif's interests include Computer Science, Digital Signal Processing, Neuroscience, and Music, giving him a unique perspective of how technology intersects with other disciplines. Clif holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of California at Davis. Before gaining his PhD, Clif earned Masters degrees in Computer Science and Electro-Acoustic Music at Dartmouth College and Bachelors degrees in Engineering and Music at Swarthmore College.
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Introducing the Ashesi logo
Jan 2000
Design of the Ashesi logo, which serves as a visual representation of the school's mission, was completed in December 1999. The mark is embedded with symbols of exploration and discovery, new beginnings, and Ashesi's core pillars of scholarship, leadership and citizenship. The logo is the result of a collaboration between Patrick and Rebecca Awuah, Dianne and Tom Hulscher, Nina Marini, and Cornellia Bremer Smith, a professional designer. Click here for a thorough explanation of the symbolism behind Ashesi's logo and seal.
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