Edinburgh College recently began an exciting partnership with Sunyani Technical University in Ghana as a part of the British Council’s Going Global Programme.

Through this new partnership, Head of School Carole Paterson and Team Leader Iris Aitchison, travelled to Ghana to carry out an initial scoping exercise, during which they met with the university’s staff and students as well as employers.

The focus of this partnership is centred around capacity building for entrepreneurialism at an institutional level, giving staff and students the tools, skills and confidence to pursue start-up and self-employment opportunities that are globally impactful and relevant to the development of their communities. The collaboration aims to enhance the capabilities of staff at the university to design and deliver entrepreneurial-focused learning over the course of a year through innovative online programmes designed by Edinburgh College lecturers.

This aligns to the aims of Going Global which are about working together internationally to ensure that higher education and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) meets the needs of our societies, economies and students. This programme demonstrates the impact Edinburgh College has internationally and highlights the College’s continued commitment towards transformational change.

Iris Aitchison, Commercial Contracts Team Leader, said: “We could not have wished for better interactions or opportunities to explore. There is a genuine desire on their part to work with us on this project, and of course, there is on our side too. The key outcome of this visit is that we have formed strong relationships with our Ghanaian counterparts, which we would have been unable to do from a distance.”

Juanita Ahia Quarcoo, CBT Coordinator for Sunyani Technical University (STU) said: “I must say the team at STU were also very delighted for the visit. The interactions with staff, students and employer partners gave us a lot of insights that could guide our further engagements. There’s a lot of excitement about the programme on the side of STU and we look forward to our visit to consolidate these shared experiences.”