Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is a Ghanaian public university specializing in science and technology. The Kwame Nkrumah Institution of Science and Technology is the country's first public university and the largest in the Kumasi Metropolis and the Ashanti Region of Ghana. KNUST's origins may be traced back to the ambitions of Agyeman Prempeh I, the Ashanti Empire's monarch, to construct a university in Kumasi as part of his attempt to modernize his Ashanti kingdom. This idea never materialized because to a struggle between British empire expansion and King Prempeh I's wish to retain the independence of his Ashanti country.
However, upon succeeding to the Golden Stool in 1935, his younger brother and successor, King Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh II, proceeded with this goal.
Events on the Gold Coast in the 1940s aided him. The University College of the Gold Coast was the first to be established. Then there were the 1948 Accra riots and the subsequent Watson Commission report, which suggested the establishment of a university of sciences at Kumasi. Thus, the Prempehs' ambition became a reality in 1949, when construction on what was to be known as the Kumasi College of Technology began. A total of 793 talented, needy students at Kwame Nkrumah Institution of Science and Technology (KNUST) have benefitted from the university's Support One Needy Student with One Laptop (SONSOL) programme, which aims to help less privileged students continue their study at university.
Since the initiative's inception, the institution has donated 1,397 computers to deserving students. Only Ghanaian students are eligible for assistance, which includes students from the Institute of Distance Learning (IDL), Obuasi campus, as well as students from other colleges within the institution. Only students from Levels 100 to 300 are eligible for assistance. Students in their last year are not eligible. For new students, a maximum West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) aggregate of 18 is required, and for continuing students, a minimum Cumulative Weighted Average (CWA) of 55.00 and higher is required.
Exemptions
Students who are already receiving any other scholarship or bursary in excess of GH2,000.00 are not eligible. Scholarships from the Mastercard Foundation students program, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Tullow, MTN Foundation, Vodafone, the GET-Fund, MP's Common Fund, and District Assembly Support are just a few examples. The selection criteria are 'watertight' to guarantee that computers are only given to pupils who are in desperate need of them.
Sponsors
State Insurance Company (SIC), KEK Insurance Brokers, Cal Bank Ghana Ltd, Stanbic Bank Ghana PLC, MyTurn, Andysap Furniture, Multinec, and the Ghana Institute of Surveyors sponsored the computers. Agricultural Manufacturing Group (AMG), Newmont Ghana, Vesterline Company Ltd, Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG), SRC KNUST, GRASAG KNUST, NUGS KNUST, and Distance Learning Students Association are the others (DLSA).
The computers are worth GH 3,965,000.00.
Virtual reality
The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Professor Rita Akosua Dickson, said at the award ceremony on Monday, July 18, 2022l, that it was incumbent on the institution as a university to hook onto the virtual space because, with the onset and spread of COVID-19, it had become clear that the university could no longer go at its own pace in terms of digital transformation.
According to the VC, all faculty members at the university had undergone mandatory training in diversified modes of delivery, including the psychology of online teaching, as part of in-house preparations for the new order and to be able to leverage on new ways of doing things to provide diverse online platforms to enhance teaching, learning, and research.
Commendation
She thanked the many institutions and people for their support of the SONSOL initiative, but stated that due to the large number of students who applied for the computers, the restricted quantity of laptops could not satisfy the demand. As a result, she called to everyone to lend their support and help make the initiative a success.
