School of Management to partner with University of Professional Studies, Accra

The School of Management has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), connecting the Buffalo and Ghanaian institutions for a wide range of academic collaboration beginning this year.

The agreement provides a platform for the two institutions to partner in such areas as student, faculty and researcher mobility; dual degree programs; research and joint grant collaborations; and the establishment of a research faculty consortium.

It also will provide several programs in the region, including leadership development for traditional rulers, leadership empowerment for graduate students and joint programs for the UPSA Entrepreneurship Center, and will allow for the exchange of academic materials and publications.

Nallan Suresh, associate dean for faculty, research and centers, and UB Distinguished Professor of operations management and strategy, and Dorothy Siaw Asamoah, clinical professor of operations management and strategy, and faculty director of global programs, signed on behalf of the School of Management, while John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, pro-vice chancellor and professor, and Ivy Heward-Mills, director of the Center for International Education Collaboration, signed for UPSA.

“This collaboration is an incredible opportunity to enrich the academics of students and faculty from both UB and UPSA,” says Suresh.

Mawutor says the agreement forms part of UPSA’s commitment to implementing its global expansion strategy and offers students, faculty and staff opportunities to contribute to and exchange knowledge and experience, and to explore the global academic landscape.

“I am so happy that this process has started,” says Mawutor. “Today marks a historical day in our partnership and I know this initiative will be of mutual benefit to our two institutions.”

Heward-Mills says the collaboration will help drive the university’s academic agenda of promoting cross-cultural learning and teaching for continuous improvement and transformation.

“Through the 1+1 STEM MBA program, our students will benefit from the STEM extension Optional Practical Training program, thereby gaining up to three years’ work experience in the U.S.,” she says.