Programmes Director of Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Visits University of Ghana

Fri, 18/08/2017 - 17:45 — sagyimah

Programmes Director of Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Visits University of Ghana

01 Feb, 2019

Prof. Saleem Badat (2nd from left) in a pose with the Principal Investigators; Prof. Offei (extreme left) and Prof. Agyei-Mensah (2nd from right) and the administrators

The Director of Programmes at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Professor Saleem Badat paid a working visit to the University of Ghana from 14th – 15th January, 2019.   The Foundation has partnered the University since 2017 to fund the following projects in the College of Humanities (CoH).
  • Enhancing Capacity and Postgraduate Education in the Humanities at University of Ghana (ENCAPEH-UG) – this project supports 15 MPhil and 10 PhD students.
  • Re-Invigorating Humanities Research at the University of Ghana (REHURE-UG) – this is made up of 17 projects.

As part of his working visit, Professor Badat interacted with the Principal Investigators of the projects,  – Professor Kwame Offei (Pro-Vice Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs) and Professor Samuel Agyei-Mensah (Provost, College of Humanities) on the Foundations’ current grants in addition to the newly approved ones.

During an interactive meetings with the ENCAPEH-UG students, Prof. Badat discussed progress of academic work, challenges and impact of the grant on their education and lives as a whole. While updating Prof. Badat on the progress of academic work, the students expressed gratitude to the Foundation for the grant which covers their research cost, subsistence and experiential learning visits to other Mellon affiliated universities within Africa such as Rhodes University, Stellenbosch University and University of Western Cape, all in South Africa.

Prof. Badat had a similar interactive session with the REHURE-UG project team, According to the Project Leaders, most projects had achieved relevant milestones such as archival reviews, data collection and acquisition of equipment, within the first six months of their inception. Outputs such as publication of journal articles, documentaries and books are expected to be achieved within the time frame of the various projects.

ENCAPEH-UG students in a photograph with Prof. Saleen Badat

Prof. Saleen Badat in a photograph with REHURE-UG Project Leaders

Prof. Badat also mentioned new grants the Foundation has awarded the University namely, Building Capacity for Early Career Humanities Scholars in Africa, a Supranational Application to the Andrew Mellon Foundation and a Planning Grant to visit institutions with established Learning Centres to interact with officials and learn from their experiences to serve as a guide in designing the proposed Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Ghana