UPSA VC calls on alumni to support Endowment Fund
Professor Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey, the Vice-Chancellor (VC), University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) has called on the university’s alumni to support the VC’s Endowment Fund project.
The project seeks to identify and support bright and financially challenged Ghanaians, who desire an opportunity to undertake tertiary education at UPSA.
It is an investment fund established for receiving third party donations, as well as contributions from the university, with the purpose of generating funds for scholarships.
Prof Amartey made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra, on the side-lines of ‘VCEF Cocktail Evening with Alumni and Friends of UPSA’.
The event aimed at strengthening the relationship between the university and alumni, with much emphasis on helping to scale up scholarships for needy students.
“We have about 14,000 students and scholarships are being given to only 20 people, we could do more, so we want to appeal to all stakeholders especially alumni, to help us educate the young ones”, he added.
Dr Albert Martins, Chairman of the Planning Committee, underscored the need to establish and deepen relationship with partners.
He said UPSA’s mission was to establish a world class university of higher education.
“We cannot do this by ourselves so there is a need to engage with partners to ensure we run this university together,” he said.
He said every year, about 1,350 students who qualified to enter UPSA were not able do so due to financial challenges, while, the university also received 1,450 applications for financial assistance each year.
Dr Martins said what was equally worrying was that about 300 students fell out or deferred their studies at UPSA, for lack of financial support, hence the need to provide for needy students.
The VCEF, which was launched on 19th of October, 2017, is targeting a seed amount of one hundred million Ghana Cedis within five years.
The VC is responsible for the overall management of the VCEF under guidelines set by the university’s Council, in accordance with generally accepted accounting and investment principles.
The VC delegates authority and responsibilities to the VCEF Board of Trustees composed of academic, financial, management and legal experts appointed from outside the university.
The two committees, the Fundraising and Scholarship Awards Committees, as well as an appointed fund manager, report to the VCEF Board of Trustees.
Source: GNA