It’s time for Ashesi University to build a new campus   ~Mathew Taggart.

   View of entrance to Founder's Court

Since 2002, Ashesi has provided a first rate education in rented buildings.  We converted living rooms into classrooms, bedrooms into offices and filled them with the best students, faculty and staff Ghana has to offer.  As our reputation has grown so has the pressure for expansion.  Over the years we have grown from 30 students to over 360 fulltime students and 40 study abroad students each year; we are running out of space! It’s time to build a permanent home where students and faculty from diverse backgrounds can live, work and study together, creating innovative local solutions to Africa’s challenges.

Over the past six months Ashesi’s administrative team has been working with the architecture firm Sutherland & Sutherland to create a master plan for the new campus and develop design drawings for our first academic courtyard and dormitories.

Ashesi University will be built on one hundred acres in the Akuapem hills, thirty minutes north of Accra, with impressive views of the capital and the port city of Tema. The gentle rolling landscape and the beauty of the surrounding area provide an idyllic learning environment. Ashesi’s new campus design echoes traditional Ashanti compound houses, and elements of traditional Northern Ghanaian dwellings. The campus will feature a series of courtyards. A landscape of trees, benches and stairs link courtyards and create places for pausing, reflecting and meeting with friends.

A world-class setting for advanced technology education, our first campus courtyard will feature two computer labs plus a smaller library research laboratory, dedicated servers for testing projects for advanced courses, and wireless internet access throughout.  With systems for waste management, water storage, and power generation, plus buildings designed to maximize natural views and ventilation, this groundbreaking campus will help conserve both financial and environmental resources.

The first phase of the campus project will total over $5.9 million.  Trustees, President Awuah and the Development office have been working hard over the last two years to ensure we reach this goal.  To date, the team has raised over $3.2 million in philanthropic contributions and recently received $2.5 million in financing from the IFC, the private financing arm of the World Bank.  We are very close to reaching our campaign goal.  We hope to begin construction sometime in the middle of 2009 and aim to complete the project by the beginning of 2011. 

The Ashesi Library: On the highest point of Founders’ Courtyard and a central meeting and study space, the library stands out with its unique square roof and glass walls. Shelving for over 5,000 volumes, seating for 122, 18 computer workstations, wireless internet access, desks designed for laptop computers and access to over 5,000 online journal publications will ensure our students have access to the latest information from around the globe.

Classrooms: The new classroom buildings echo our teaching philosophy and encourage discussion between students and lecturers. A terraced seating plan in a concentric U shape allows for unobstructed views for all students and facilitates dialog between students and faculty. Each classroom is complete with multimedia equipment, digital projectors and computers for each lecturer.

Computer laboratories: The first phase of the new campus will feature two computer labs, each with 50 workstations, a computer workshop with room for 30 workstations, dedicated exchange, file, and development servers, and a dedicated server for building and testing projects for advanced courses. The computer laboratories will have installations of digital projectors so students and lecturers can easily present their work to the group. The laboratories will be configured to allow easy interaction and group work.

Dormitories: The dormitories are designed to provide both living and community spaces for students.  Dorms are situated around a central garden courtyard and include rooms for meeting and student government activities. Each group of housing units has a central community building with seating, lounge space, a patio, and kitchenettes.

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