Regentropfen University College says it is deliberately designing its academic programmes around development gaps in the Upper East Region, rather than expanding simply to increase the number of courses it offers.
Founder and President of the institution, Rev. Fr. Dr. Moses Asaah Awinongya who spoke on A1 Radio said the university’s programme choices are informed by areas where students and professionals in the region have limited opportunities for advanced training.
That strategy has informed the introduction of three postgraduate programmes, an MPhil in Aquaculture Technology, an MSc in Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education.
Rev. Fr. Awinongya says these programmes were selected because they respond to specific needs within the region.
“We have chosen these ones because we think they are the ones that currently serve the needs of the Upper East Region,” he said.
The decision reflects a broader philosophy at the university: that tertiary institutions should identify gaps in their communities and develop academic programmes capable of addressing those gaps.
But the founder says Regentropfen is deliberately resisting pressure to introduce several programmes at once.
He explained that every new programme comes with accreditation requirements, staffing needs and infrastructure demands.
If student numbers grow faster than the institution’s facilities and academic resources, he warned, the quality of training could suffer.
“We want to ensure that our infrastructure grows to match the distance,” he said.
The university is therefore planning expansion alongside infrastructure development.
According to Rev. Fr. Awinongya, the institution is considering additional postgraduate programmes, including possible programmes in health-related areas, but these will depend on whether the university has the facilities and personnel required to deliver them effectively.
This approach is also shaping the university’s plans beyond its current campus at Namoo.
The institution has a large parcel of land in Togo, which was donated for the development of a campus.
Rev. Fr. Awinongya says future programmes could be located according to the needs of the communities around such campuses rather than simply duplicating what already exists at Namoo.
The university is also looking beyond teaching to research.
The founder believes the Upper East Region has the academic institutions and human resources to become a stronger research centre, but says local universities must work together to make that happen.
He questioned why organisations seeking to conduct research in the region should routinely bring institutions from southern Ghana when universities already operating in the region could undertake such work.
He specifically pointed to collaboration among Regentropfen University College, Bolgatanga Technical University and the University of Technology and Applied Sciences.
For him, the institutions should explore joint research, investment and academic initiatives.
He also raised the possibility of joint or double-degree programmes as part of a more collaborative approach to tertiary education.
“We are going to get more into collaboration with the existing university and tertiary institutions here in the Upper East Region and in the North,” he said.
The development of programmes linked to the region’s emerging economic opportunities is also part of the university’s long-term thinking.
Rev. Fr. Awinongya disclosed that the university had considered mining-related programmes as far back as 2014.
However, the institution has not pursued that area because of the substantial financial requirements associated with engineering education.
He said collaboration with another tertiary institution could provide a possible route to developing such programmes in the future.
The university’s approach is therefore to expand where it believes there is a genuine development need, while ensuring that its resources can support the programmes it introduces.
That balance, the founder says, is important because a university’s contribution should not be measured simply by how many programmes it advertises.
It should also be measured by whether those programmes produce the skills, research and expertise required to solve problems in the communities where the institution operates.
The ambition is to gradually build Regentropfen into a university with stronger faculties, experienced professors and a research capacity capable of attracting organisations to the Upper East.
Rev. Fr. Awinongya believes that if local institutions deliberately develop programmes around local challenges, the region can retain more talent, attract more investment and become less dependent on external institutions for expertise.
Source: Bolgafmonline.com| 102.7 MHZ| Bolgatanga
