Dear reader,

While 2020 is coming to an end, we are wrapping up this year with our final newsletter. One of our highlights was finalising the collaboration between Ashesi University in Ghana and ETH Zurich for a joint Master in Engineering educating the leaders of tomorrow – starting in 2021. The Provost of Ashesi University and the Rector of ETH Zurich kindly agreed to share a few words on the partnership with us here:

Ma’aha (Good day in Ghanaian dialect),
The world is a new place. The old is transitioning out while the new is here. Higher education has to adapt and change how and what it teaches. In the days of the second industrial revolution of assembly lines, higher education analyzed and departmentalized to problem-solve. Today, in the era of the fourth industrial revolution, fueled by volatility, complexity, and ambiguity, synthetic thinking is paramount, as the problems are global and transcending disciplines. Resolving challenges ought to be collaborative, diverse in perspectives, and sustainable. The collaboration between ETH and Ashesi does that: bringing together continents, different schools of thoughts and is designed to be both stable whiles in motion. I am enthused that the Ashesi-ETH program provides stability of practice and innovation towards the future for Africa and beyond. - Prof. Dr. Angela Owusu-Ansah, Provost of Ashesi University

Grüezi (Good day in Swiss German),
We want this Master to have a real impact on sustainable development. We’re drawing here on the different skills and perspectives of the project parties – ETH, Ashesi and partners from industry – as we all want to learn from each other to build a better and more integrated educational offering that can flourish independently in the future. This is a completely fresh approach that seeks to advance higher education in engineering. Should it be successful, it may well form a blueprint for similar initiatives in the future. - Prof. Dr. Sarah M. Springman, Rector of ETH Zurich


We wish you a joyous holiday season!

The ETH4D Team