KNUST to host ‘free’ 12th edition of R.P Baffour Memorial lectures

Slated for Thursday, November 23, 2023, and Friday, November 24, 2023, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is set to host the 12th edition of the prestigious R.P. Baffour Memorial Lectures.

The memorial lectures are held in honour of the first Vice-Chancellor of the Kumasi-based Kwame Nkrumah Science and Technology University (KNUST), Dr Robert Patrick Baffour.

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The theme for this year’s lectures is KNUST After 70: A New Age for A Renewed Focus In An Era of Disruptive Technologies. The lectures will feature presentations by a distinguished panel of speakers, including:

Mr. Joe Anokye, Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA)
• Dr. Ing. (Mrs.) Sylvia Abena Asamoah, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, KNUST
• Prof. Mark Adom-Frimpong, Director of the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (CRSGIS), KNUST

The 12 edition of the lectures according to the management of the Science and Technology University will be held at the Great Hall of KNUST. The admission fee it says is free for members of the general public, particularly students.

About the R.P. Baffour Memorial Lectures

The R.P. Baffour Memorial Lectures were inaugurated in 2012 to commemorate the life and contributions of Dr. Robert Patrick Baffour. The lectures are designed to promote scholarly debate on issues of national and international importance.

Dr Baffour was a Ghanaian engineer, politician, and university administrator who served as the first Vice-Chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology from 1961 to 1967. He was also a pioneer in engineering education in Ghana.

Robert Patrick Baffour (a.k.a. Papa Andoh) was born on 14 May 1912 in Elmina. His father was in the service of the British Civil Service in Nigeria as a Master of Schools. He was the first-born son of Robert Patrick Baffour Andoh and Maria Frederica Adwoa Kane (Okai).

Between 1917 and 1926, Baffour attended various schools in Ghana and Nigeria: Catholic School in Elmina, Okar Government School in Nigeria and Richmond College.

Baffour attended the Mfantsipim School and obtained the Cambridge Senior School Certificate with exemption from London Matriculation. After secondary school, he achieved the singular honour of coming first in the Civil Service Examination of his time.

Yet instead of joining the British Civil Service, he chose to continue his education at Achimota College to study engineering, where he was taught by Charles Deakin, a founding engineering instructor at the school. He became the first Ghanaian to obtain a University of London degree in mechanical engineering on Ghanaian soil.