Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo presided over the ceremony to launch the second phase of construction of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) on August 5, 2020. On this occasion, Nana Akufo-Addo announced the recruitment of the first class of students of this university for the academic year 2020-2021.
Based in the municipality of Trom-Somanya in the east of Ghana, the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) will launch the selection of its very first students in October 2020. The announcement was made by Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, who presided over the ceremony to launch the second phase of construction work on the school on August 5, 2020. The contract for this second phase was signed on May 6, 2020 between the government and Contracta, a Brazilian engineering company. Spread over a period of 30 months, the work in this phase will cost the Ghanaian taxpayer approximately 50 million euros. It will involve the construction of additional lecture theatres, the main library, a laboratory, and five sports fields.
The construction of these facilities does not determine the start of activities for the UESD. According to Nana Akufo-Addo, the government has provided the school with the necessary resources for the recruitment of 300 employees, with a view to welcoming the first undergraduate students at the beginning of the 2020-2021 academic year.
Ghana’s first university dedicated to environmental protection
The entry into operation of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) will therefore be effective thanks to the achievements of the first phase, which cost almost 45 million euros. A conference room and a multi-purpose auditorium for the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences have been completed. The School of Agriculture and Agro-Entrepreneurship Development has been equipped with a laboratory and an administrative block. The offices of the Rector and Vice-Rector have also been built.
Supported by Deutsche Bank through a 38 million euro loan, the UESD project, also known as the University of the East, was conceived in April 2013, voted by parliament the following year and approved by the then president in 2016. The university will train environment and sustainable development professionals in Ghana. It offers study and research programmes on climate change, water resources development, energy sustainability, energy economics and policy, urban architecture, natural resources and environmental economics, environmental policy and environmental sciences.
Boris Ngounou
