As part of their working visit to KNUST on Thursday, April 17, 2025, a delegation from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, paid a courtesy visit to the Regional Transport Research and Education Centre, Kumasi (TRECK-KNUST). This followed earlier engagements with the International Programmes Office and the College of Health Sciences of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
The delegation included Assistant Professor Mizuho Fukushige, Vice-Director of the Bureau of Global Initiatives, and Professor Masao Ichikawa, a faculty member in Global Public Health at the Institute of Medicine. They were introduced to the IPO by Professor Yeetey Enuameh, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Mr. Hayford Isaac Budu, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Nursing, both of KNUST.
During the meeting, Professor Ichikawa shared that the purpose of their visit to TRECK-KNUST was to learn more about the Centre’s mandate and activities, with particular interest in its Summer School programme. He expressed the University of Tsukuba’s interest in collaborating on a similar initiative and emphasized the potential for a strong and impactful partnership between the transport and health sectors.
Professor Helen Essandoh, Centre Director of TRECK-KNUST, warmly welcomed the delegation and provided a comprehensive overview of the Centre’s operations. She highlighted that TRECK, an Africa Centre of Excellence established by the World Bank through the Government of Ghana, is committed to addressing transport-related development challenges in the sub-region through applied research, innovative educational programmes, and professional training.
She also elaborated on the Global Development Summer School, an existing collaboration between KNUST and Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH Zurich). The programme offers young researchers the opportunity to co-create practical solutions to real-world challenges and is hosted alternately by KNUST and ETH Zurich.
Expressing keen interest in a similar joint programme with the University of Tsukuba, Professor Essandoh exchanged contact details with the delegation to initiate further discussions and planning.
Also present at the meeting were Professor Yaw Adubofour Tuffour, Deputy Centre Director; Mrs. Yvonne Baiden, Senior Assistant Registrar at the IPO; and other key members of the TRECK-KNUST team.
