Beginning the next academic year [2025/2026], all students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) will undertake a one-credit course in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mrs Rita Akosua Dickson, said the move, which forms part of the new national AI strategy as well as the university’s own AI strategy, has already been approved by the academic board and Governing Council for a roll out.
“Effective next academic year, every student is going to take a micro-credential course in AI, which will be run on the university’s e-learning platform. Students and staff who undertake the course will be certified to make them globally competitive,” she stressed.
Summer School
Prof Dickson made this known while addressing the opening of the 11th KNUST Summer School on Tuesday [Oct 21, 2025].
The three-day event is on the theme: “Artificial Intelligence in Education”.
The KNUST Summer School has grown steadily into one of the university’s flagship professional development initiatives. From its humble beginnings in 2011, when only 250 Senior members participated in the first edition themed “Equipping Staff for Leading Change in Academia,” the Summer School has expanded in both scope and participation.
She said even if staff also want to enroll to beef up KNUST’s credentials, they would be allowed to do so, saying “the students in particular can decide to do it in the first or second years or any other year before completing school”.
Embrace AI
She underscored the need for academic institutions to welcome and embrace AI and other emerging technologies, saying “we cannot remain static as our pedagogical architecture must change to be in tune with new things that are coming up”.
She indicated that the management of the university would continue to work with all the relevant stakeholders including the government to reap the full benefits of AI and to drive the country’s progress.
“We must learn to use AI tools and its related technologies but we must not forget about the ethics associated with its use. We must use it responsibly towards the growth and development of the country” she said.
