Accra, Nov 28, GNA - The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) will from next year begin a training programme in management for 444 leadership of the Civil Service. This follows an agreement between GIMPA and the office of the Head of Civil Service.

Professor Yaw Agyeman Badu, Rector of GIMPA, announced these at the 11th Congregation of the Institute on Saturday in Accra. He said the agreement formed part of efforts by the Institute to partner reputable institutions to enhance human capacity development and to attract funding and technical expertise for effective programme delivery

Prof. Badu said the Public Service Commission had asked GIMPA to train all public servants in a new performance appraisal instrument, scheduled to start on Monday.

He said: 93GIMPA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Gender Response Skills and Community Development Project, an African Development Bank project, for the training of Chief Directors and other high-level government officials in gender management and mainstreaming gender into the public service sector". Prof. Badu said GIMPA had entered into a partnership with the Nigerian Institute of Management to extend GIMPA's network of partner universities to Nigeria to offer customised programmes, and to collaborate with other institutions around the world such as the Foster Business School and Whitworth University.

Prof. Badu said GIMPA had considered expanding its operations to enable it to provide learning opportunities for people outside Accra as a result of the high demand for professional development training programmes.

He said: 93We have made initial exploratory visits to Kumasi and we hope to be able to announce the estabkishment of a regional campus in the city in the near future".

Prof. Kofi Awonoor, Chairman of the Council of State, called on all parties involved in the GIMPA Project 93to revisit the task assigned to the Institute and to make sure that everybody is involved in achieving its objectives of excellence."

He called for the definition and limitation of the role of Government in the operations of higher educational institutions, to prevent over-dependence since government alone would never have enough resource to finance all institutions in the country. Prof. Awonoor praised GIMPA for creating an excellent environment for human capacity development and that it had been faithful to the visions of its founders. Eight hundred and forty-nine students, consisting of 147 Graduate Students, 652 Undergraduate Students and 50 Post-Graduate Diploma and Certificates. students graduated.