The Governing Council of the Tamale Technical University (TaTU) has appointed Professor Abass Braimah as the first Vice Chancellor since the institution attained its university status. Prof Braimah’s appointment, which took effect from July 1, 2020, will see him serve a four-year term.
In addition to that, the Council also appointed Alhaji Yakubu Iddrisu and Alhaji Alhassan Abdul Razak as the new Registrar and Director of Finance respectively. The decisions were taken by the TaTU Council at its 7th Governing Council meeting after a recommendation from the university’s search committee.
The university has not had a Vice-Chancellor since February 2018, following the end of tenure of the former Rector Prof. Abdulai Salifu Asuro, whose term of office ended on February 28, 2018.
Until Prof. Braimah’s appointment, he was Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Design, Carleton University in Canada.
The Polytechnic was converted into a technical university according to the Technical University Act 2016 (Act 922), with the aim of providing higher education in engineering, applied arts, science/technology-based disciplines, technical and vocational training.
Prof. Braimah obtained his degree in M.Sc. Structures, Higher Institute of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Sofia, Bulgaria, (1987–1992); M.Sc. Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, (1994 –1996); Ph.D. education at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, (1996 –2000) at the Department of Civil Engineering.
He was offered an academic position at Carleton University to join a four-person committee to establish a first-in-the-world programme in Infrastructure Protection and International Security (IPIS) in 2009, and was Director of the Programme from 2017 to 2018.
Prof. Braimah in his acceptance speech commended the university’s search committee and the council for the honour done him. He noted that the position presents a singular opportunity to return home and help a nascent institution find its place in Ghana and the world.
“Throughout my education and career, I have sought to acquire knowledge and experience that can be used to better life for the people of Ghana in general and the Northern Region in particular.
“I trust that my many years of experience in the private sector, in government and in academia will be a great asset to Tamale Technical University, but putting a lot of emphasis on funding from international organisations to develop infrastructure necessary for pedagogy, cooperative education and research,” he said.
He stressed that new diploma and degree programmes that are critical for the sustainable development of Ghana to address current and future industry needs will be introduced. He also promised to help to transform the university into a premier world-class institution by ensuring that all degree programmes have a cooperative education component to offer the graduates practical and hands-on work experience upon graduation.
Prof. Braimah assured of creating financial endowments from private individuals and corporations to augment government of Ghana financial support to the university.
