Ashesi University was founded in 2002 with a set of ambitious goals. Over the course of our first ten years, we established Ghana's first university built on the model of the Liberal Arts & Sciences, offering majors in technology and business. We demonstrated the power of our educational model by achieving a strong career placement record for Ashesi graduates, consistently placing 95 percent of our graduates in jobs or graduate schools within three months of graduation. Today, Ashesi represents one of the finest educational experiences in Ghana (click here to review the plan that guided our first ten years).
Ashesi's second decade (2012 - 2022)
Our second decade promises to be a very exciting one. Over the next ten years, Ashesi will grow to over 1,000 students, add high-impact majors in engineering, economics and law, and expand student recruiting across Africa. This decade will see major efforts in developing our people, academic programmes, and campus spaces.
1. Increased Diversity and Collaboration
The next decade will see a deepened commitment to providing financial assistance to students in need, and to the ideal of a truly pan-African university. We aim to grow our non-Ghanaian African population from its current level of 10 percent to between 30 and 50 percent. We will also establish more international educational exchanges in order to prepare students for careers in an increasingly interconnected world.
2. A Fully Immersive Campus Experience
An Ashesi education transforms students' ethics and attitudes, and fosters a willingness to take responsibility and to lead. As we enroll more students from across Africa, it becomes even more important to have the housing and gathering spaces to support this cultural transformation, and to foster community in our diverse student body. Our top priority is for more on-campus student housing, followed by an expanded on-campus cafeteria, and other gathering spaces.
3. Reversing the Brain Drain
Ashesi will establish a "Brain Gain" fund to recruit top African talent living abroad to return to Africa and help expand our educational program and lead important research in Africa. The fund will pay student loans and help new faculty stay abreast of their international colleagues by providing research equipment and access to the academic resources.
4. Engineering
Educate tinkerers and inventors who can create engineering solutions for Africa's needs. Ashesi's engineering programme will begin with concentrations in Electrical, Computer, and Mechanical Engineering. Engineering at Ashesi will develop strengths in design, entrepreneurship, and hands-on experiences.
5. Economics
The next generation of leaders in Africa must ensure that resources are managed effectively to drive development in an interconnected a complex global economy. From President's in Mexico and Chile, to top ministers in Singapore, Taiwan and China, exceptionally trained economists have made a big impact around the world. We seek to replicate this success in Africa.
6. Law and Society
Ashesi's Law & Society program will produce critical thinkers with a solid understanding of law, who are excellent communicators and can apply their knowledge and skills across multiple areas of academia and industry. Acknowledging that the law does not exist in a vacuum, the course will draw from the advantages of a holistic liberal arts approach, relating itself to African life, taking into account the continent's particular social, political and economic realities. A series of deliberate experiences will expose students to a broad spectrum of society, engendering compassion for their fellow man and revealing where the need for the rule of law springs. Graduates will be civically-engaged, ethical leaders who will work across sectors (government, private industry, non-profit) to address problems from a perspective that seeks the greater good of society
7. Research
Building off our relationships with international academic institutions and interest from local industry, we will actively seek opportunities to conduct meaningful applied research.
8. Ashesi's Master Plan
We will continue to build our campus, set on one hundred verdant acres with stunning views of Berekuso, Accra and Tema; courtyard spaces that emphasize a sense of community; a landscape of trees, benches and stairs that link courtyards and create places for pausing, meeting and gathering.
Our second decade will see an expansion of on-campus student housing and student life spaces that will strengthen campus culture and enrich campus life. We will also build the academic and administrative spaces needed to support curricular expansion.
Click here to review the strategic plan for Ashesi's first decade