The Jospong Group and Russia’s RUDN University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to help 600 Ghanaian students pursue master’s degrees in agribusiness, solid waste management, and climate change.
The partnership, which starts this year, will see the first batch of 120 students from various Ghanaian tertiary institutions travel to Russia to undertake a two-year program at RUDN University.
The Agreement was signed in Accra in the presence of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, as well as Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, and Dr Freda Prempeh, Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources.
The partnership is expected to bridge the gap between academia and industry, promote knowledge transfer, and provide young people with the skills to address key challenges in the country’s agriculture sector.
The RUDN University, also known as the Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, has plans to support a further 20 per cent of the beneficiary 600 Ghanaian students to acquire PhDs at the school.
Mr Bagbin, described the agreement as a “strong signal for us to do what is right,” adding that “this is the beginning of great things to happen.”
He asked the Jospong Group to work closely with the various committees in Parliament, including the Foreign Affairs, Environment, Agriculture, and Economic Development to support the successful implementation of the partnership.
Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group, said the scholarship programme was in line with the Group’s commitment to contribute to the transformation of Ghana’s industrial agricultural sector to achieve food sufficiency and create sustainable jobs.
He said the Group, through its feasibility studies, had identified a myriad of challenges, including post-harvest losses, and expressed optimism that the beneficiaries of the scholarship programme would develop solutions to enhance the sector.
Dr Agyepong said the company had secured a $100m facility to support its operations in the agriculture sector and assured the beneficiary students that they would be absorbed at the end of their study.
“We will provide the equipment, infrastructure, and every technology in the world that befit Ghana. Come back and you will never be left alone, and we will all develop this together,” he assured and appealed to experts in the sector to support the company to achieve the Ghanaian dream.
Dr Masamba Kah, the Industrial-Educational Partnership Coordinator, Russia-Africa, said the RUDN University was pleased to equip Ghanaian students with the requisite skills to solve problems in various sectors of development.
“I want us to visualise a great future that we envisage together and work for the progress of the partnership,” he said.
Dr. Adutwum stated that the partnership between Jospong and RUDN University would supplement the government’s efforts to invest in human capacity development and contribute to national development.
He encouraged prospective program beneficiaries to take it seriously and return to the country to help grow the agriculture sector.
GNA