A Virginia Tech-Ghanaian classroom collaboration bridges borders
Impactful collaborations led to an agreement with the University of Media, Arts, and Communication and the University of Cape Coast in Ghana.
Faculty from Virginia Tech and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences visited two universities in Ghana to officially sign a collaborative agreement. Photo courtesy of Tracy Rutherford.
Communication plays a crucial role in sharing agricultural innovations, best practices, and research findings with farmers, agricultural professionals, policymakers, and consumers.
To help enhance agricultural, rural, and environmental communication training across continents, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Global Programs; Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education; and the School of Communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences signed a letter of agreement with the University of Media, Arts, and Communication and the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, Africa.
So far, communication is the curriculum area that is being co-developed. As part of the collaboration, the partners have already been engaging in
- Teaching, research, technical, and scholarly collaborations
- Faculty and staff interactions and exchanges
- Student educational exchanges and cultural competency-building
- Jointly seeking funding for partnership activities, programs, and projects
"Effective agricultural communication and strong partnerships with other universities, especially across continents, are vital to advancing innovation, sharing knowledge, and addressing global food security challenges,” said Van Crowder, a professor in Virginia Tech's Department of Agricultural, Leadership, and Community Education. “By fostering collaboration and open dialogue, we can accelerate research, empower farmers, and cultivate sustainable solutions for a better future."
This partnership has already been fruitful. A synchronous, collaborative online learning course Communication for Social Change has been completed by 13 students from Ghanaian universities as well as about 13 from Virginia Tech. Yaw Akowuah, who received his master’s degree in communication development from UniMAC, is now a Ph.D. student in agricultural, leadership, and community education because of his enrollment in the collaborative course.
Frank Kwekucher Ackah, who visited Virginia Tech in fall 2023 has built partnerships across the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Ackah started a Facebook group called Home Gardening Ghana, which has grown to more than 287,000 members and spans beyond the Ghanaian border. He’s focused on fighting food insecurity through urban agriculture and urban community gardening, including home gardening. Ackah wants to expand this work across West Africa.
One of Ackah’s students, Thomas Awuni from the University of Cape Coast, will be starting his master’s degree as a full-time student this fall and will work closely with Virginia Cooperative Extension.
Agricultural communication goes beyond traditional agriculture to include rural development and environmental issues, focusing on sustainable resource management and community development.
The field trains students to be effective communicators who can apply their skills in various settings, emphasizing audience analysis and segmentation. Globally, there is a communication gap between scientists and the public, especially in Africa.
“Beyond its novelty, this tripartite partnership constitutes a uniquely significant attempt at creating synergies for our mutual benefit,” said Daniel Odoom, dean of the faculty of integrated communication sciences at the University of Media, Arts, and Communication. “It is yet a critical step aimed at giving meaning to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 17, which enjoins institutions to form partnerships for our greater good.”
The collaborative project aims to assess how much communication is included in the teaching and research programs at African agricultural universities and, if absent, the interest in developing such programs. These programs would address agricultural, rural, and environmental issues in Africa.
“We look forward to a deeper and stronger collaboration that brings out the best we all have to offer in order to impact our society,” said Samuel Bert Boadi-Kusi of the University of Cape Coast Office of International Relations Dean. “There is a lot we can do together through exchange of ideas, technology, staff, faculty and student exchanges, research, joint grant application, and capacity building among others.”
