The Spanish ambassador to Ghana, Her Excellency Maria Alonso, on Friday October 3rd, 2014, paid a courtesy call on the Dean of School of Languages as part of her familiarization tour of the University.

Over the years, there has been collaboration between the University and the Spanish Embassy to promote the teaching and learning of the Spanish language in Ghana. Through this collaboration the embassy has provided various levels of support for the Spanish section of the Modern Languages Department.

Welcoming Her Excellency the Ambassador, Professor Nana Aba Amfo, Dean of the School of Languages was full of commendation for the support the embassy has given to the Department of Modern Languages, over the years. The Dean explained the new collegiate system to the ambassador. She appealed to the Spanish government through the ambassador to increase their support to the school by providing scholarships to Ghanaian students of Spanish, as well as support collaborations between University of Ghana and other universities in Spain to aid in training graduate students, particularly PhD students. 

On her part, the ambassador pledged to ensure that, she would ensure the continuous collaboration of her government and the University of Ghana. She was optimistic that various forms of cooperation between the Spanish universities and the University of Ghana will be considered by her government. She indicated that she will hold discussions with the Ministry of Education of Spain to ascertain whether they could give scholarships, especially short term ones, to students. The ambassador further indicated that currently the embassy’s focus was on the provision of learning materials for the Spanish section. Additionally, they are interested in cultural activities.
Earlier, Dr. Dzahene- Quarshie, the Head of Department of Modern Languages informed the ambassador of the upcoming 50th anniversary celebrations of the department, which will include an academic and cultural week celebration, and expressed the department’s expectation of the ambassador’s presence during the program.
The Coordinator of the Spanish section, Professor A. H. Asaah made a passionate appeal to Her Excellency to help with the renovation of the Spanish museum. Prof. Asaah was also concerned about scholarships. He suggested that graduate students should be given scholarships on short term basis. This will enable such students to gather data for their theses.

Prof. Nana Aba Amfo, Dean of School of Languages (left) and Her Excellency Maria Alonso, Spanish Ambassador.