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 was announced after Mr Julius Debrah, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) in Accra.

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

Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, Director of ILGS, expressed joy for the collaboration between the two institutions.

She said the two institutions would be offering a series of certificated joint academic programmes, develop programmes together, and offer wider range of partnership, including learning resources.

Dr Ofei-Aboage said community development programmes were now taking a different dimension by the introduction of new technology and the ILGS would offer more support in that regard.

She said the ILGS had no presence in Ghana’s middle belt and 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 collaboration programme.

He said the collaboration had come at the right time as it would put the College on a higher pedestal.

Mr Julius Debrah, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, expressed the hope that, the collaboration would help develop human resource, especially in the area of community development and local governance.

He said government would continue to expand infrastructure on the various campuses in order to be able to accommodate more students.