Partnerships, collaborations key to Loughborough University — Pro-VC

Loughborough University in the UK has said collaborations and partnerships with other institutions are key to its mandate.

That, it said, was not only key to both its history and DNA, but also to its move forward.

The Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education and Student Experience at Loughborough University, Prof. Sam Grogan, said this during a media interaction in Accra last Friday on a recent visit to Ghana.

He said the university had three priority areas — climate change and net zero, vibrant and inclusive communities, as well as sports, health and wellbeing, which guided all its programmes, among other things.

West Africa

For instance, Prof. Grogan said the university recognised that West Africa, particularly Ghana and Nigeria, were key partners.

"We won't get there without partnering with the region, and to that end, we have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry for Youth Development and Empowerment," he said, adding that the MoU was signed a couple of months ago.

The MoU, Prof. Grogan explained, was looking at the 10-point strategy of the Ministry and the university's priorities.

"But I think the thing to point out really, in partnership with Ghana, with Nigeria, with West Africa at large, is that we are not here for one or two years.

Because the thing is that we really want to make a change within the world, going to climate change, or thinking about vibrant, inclusive communities and healthy living.

"These are long-term aspirations, so that we can really make a decent impact.

And our purpose is not a short-term transactional relationship. We are here to partner and collaborate," he said.

Loughborough University has one of the largest alumni in West Africa, comprising 1,700 people.
Ghana has about 300 alumni.

For her part, a Professor of Behavioural Medicine at Loughborough University, Prof. Amanda Daley, said the institution had the Centre for Lifestyle, Medicine and Behaviour (CLiMB).

“We also have CLiMB Ghana, which is a collaboration between Loughborough University’s CLiMB, funded by the UK government,” she said.

“So we do our own thing. But we also have a Ghana thing going on in relation to CLiMB. And so we meet regularly."

Five academic institutions under the initiative are the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the University of Ghana, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research Noguchi, the University of Health and Allied Sciences, the University for Development Studies and ESIGN Global College.

A Senior Lecturer (Public Health Nutrition Academic), Dr Hibbah Osei-Kwasi, said people also came from Kenya as well.

"Even though it’s CLiMB Ghana, we can get academics from Kenya because I think they also like the idea of what we are doing in Ghana.

So these are the collaborators from Ghana," she said.

A Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Water & Environmental Engineering, Dr Sola Afolabi, also said there were quite a lot of academics in Loughborough working with a variety of partners in Ghana.

Loughborough University, he said, saw Ghana as a strategic partner.