Launch of joint Master’s programme in Ghana
Since 17 January, ETH lecturers have been working alongside colleagues at Ashesi University in Ghana. On Monday, the new joint Master’s in Mechatronic Engineering launched with 26 students from seven African countries.
Monday marked the start of the new semester at Ashesi University near the Ghanaian capital of Accra. Among the new students were the 26 members of the Master’s in Mechatronic Engineering programme developed by Ashesi University and ETH Zurich together with industry partners.
The aim of the programme is to train highly qualified and responsible engineers for Africa.
The students, six of whom are female, come from Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Cameroon, and will study in intensive four-week block courses.
They will be trained in automation, production and robotics, gaining interdisciplinary knowledge in the design, optimisation, control and management of production processes, machines and systems. The programme will also include subjects such as ethical leadership, team management, corporate responsibility, sustainable engineering and economics.
The students will spend the third and final year of the course gaining experience in a variety of businesses through internships. Industry partners ABB, Barry Callebaut, Bühler, HPW, LafargeHolcim, Nestlé and TetraPak will offer internships in their businesses in various African countries. These partners helped to shape the development of the Master’s programme, thereby ensuring that graduates will have the skills required by local labour markets. They are also providing scholarships for students.
The Master’s programme is financially supported and enabled by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) as well as other foundations and private donors.