Two faculty members of UHAS from the School of Nursing and Midwifery (SONAM) have been selected to benefit from the PhD programme in Nursing at York University in Toronto, Canada, courtesy of a partnership between the two universities. A lone candidate had been earlier picked for the programme next year, but an intervention from the UHAS Vice Chancellor saw another prospective candidate added to the selection. And in January 2020, three students from York University arrived at the Hohoe Campus of UHAS this January to begin a three-month practicum with the School of Public Health.
The York University in Toronto, Canada in 2018 visited UHAS to familiarize and “explore opportunities for collaboration” and establish relevant networks; and in November 2019, the two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to legally back their future collaborations on research, faculty development and student exchange, among others.
In December 2019, a team from York University, comprising Ms. Julie Hard, International Relations Manager who led the team, Professor Beryl Pilkington, Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Global Health Program, and Professor Christine Kurtzlandy, Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health visited UHAS to continue talks.
Ms. Hard explained that the meeting was to cement the already existing relationship between the two universities after years of behind-the-scenes discussions. “One of our objectives was to ensure institutional support for the partnership, and we are glad it was well received,” she said, adding, “UHAS is strategically very important to the global goal of our university in building relations.”
She noted that few alterations had been done to the initial proposal to possibly accept the two candidates for registration into their graduate school, starting September 2020.
During the team’s visit with the Vice Chancellor, Professor John Gyapong welcomed the collaboration, saying “there are not enough PhDs in the SONAM faculty,” and called for effective collaborations in joint research topics and funding of multidisciplinary research that would enhance lives. He also advised that due process should be followed to ensure professionalism, and assured the team that UHAS would do everything to support the partnership.
Dr. Robert K. Alhassan, Acting Dean, International Programmes, said, “As the largest school in UHAS, SONAM cannot boast of many PhD holders,” and said the partnership would boost the faculty’s capacity.
Professor Ernestina Donkor, Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwiferey (SONAM) assured the team from York of her school’s commitment to the collaboration. She appealed for the process to be fast-tracked and well structured to allow all parties involved to know their roles.
The team also visited the School of Public Health (SPH) at the Hohoe campus, where they explored other avenues and modules of building stronger partnerships in their respective fields, especially in the area of global health programmes. The York representative also signed an agreement with SPH for student exchange for a global health exchange programme, under which the three students from York have been dispatched this January to SPH to study the public health system in a developing country setting.
“Some faculty members in SPH are already supervising these York University students,” Dr. Alhassan explained, and the visit “will allow them to touch bases with their supervisors and also allow them to understand tropical issues related to health.”