The Rural Development College at Kwaso in the Ashanti Region, which is under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, is to offer accredited degree programmes from the next academic year.

This follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry and the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) in Accra, to that effect.

Per the Memorandum of Understanding, the ILGS, which is an accredited institution, would provide the certificates for the degree programmes, while the courses would be run on the campus of the Rural Development College.

Mr. Julius Debrah, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, who signed the MoU on behalf of the Ministry, was optimistic that the collaboration would help to develop human resources, especially in the area of community and local governance.

He gave the assurance that the government would continue to expand infrastructure on the various campuses in order to accommodate more students.

Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, Director of ILGS, was delighted at the collaboration between the two institutions, indicating that the institutions would be offering a series of joint academic programmes and offer a wider range of partnership, including learning resources.

Dr Offei-Aboagye said community development programmes were now taking a different dimension by the introduction of new technology, adding that the ILGS would offer more support in that regard.

She said the ILGS had no presence in Ghana’s middle belt, therefore the collaboration would create its presence and help impact knowledge to the people.

Mr John Amuzu Aguadze, Principal of the Rural Development College, commended Mr Julius Debrah for ensuring the smooth take-off of the collaborative programme.

He described the collaboration as timely and pledged the College’s commitment to fully take advantage of it, to develop its operations.