The Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management, Ghana (CIHRM) and Central University have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to deepen collaboration between industry and academia in developing “industry-ready” human resource professionals.

During the signing ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of CIHRM, Dr Francis Eduku, said as the legally mandated human resource (HR) professional body established by law to regulate the practice and maintain its standards in the country, CIHRM was proud to associate with Central University to promote excellence in training the nation’s most critical resource - its people.

He added that the collaboration would serve as a strategic bridge between academia and industry, saying, “While academia teaches students the theories of human resource management, CIHRM teaches them the practice of those theories in organisational settings.”

Dr Eduku explained that excellence in training HR professionals could not be achieved through a silo-mentality and called on all stakeholders in the country to support the HR professional body to guide the development and implementation of human resource management practices and standards in the country.

The Vice President of CIHRM, Dorothy Asare, said the collaboration was a model of partnership that the institute would like to champion with academia to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

She explained that the partnership would result in the holistic development of HR Professionals while pushing the frontiers of Ghana's Human Resource Management profession.

She also announced that the institute would give scholarships to the top female and male graduating students in HRM from the Central University Business School every year, starting this year.

Praise

The President of CIHRM, Florence Hutchful, praised Central University for being the first private university to sign the MOU with the institute and thanked the Vice Chancellor and his team for their commitment towards excellence in the people management profession.

The Vice Chancellor of Central University, Professor Bill Puplampu, who chaired the event, said, “Central University has long led the way in the sciences with very explicit collaborative arrangements with hospitals, pharmacies and other such establishments where our students in the health professions gain in-situ experience.

“So, it is very much so that we are extending this partnership arrangement to the Business School and its programmes,” he said.

He added that the university was currently inviting applications from prospective students for its undergraduate and graduate offerings for the February 2025 cohort and urged students to visit the university’s website: https://central.edu.gh/online to apply.

Present at the ceremony were some council members of CIHRM, including Dora Siaw-Lartey, Anita Nanfuri, the Vice Chair-Public Services Commission, Dr Irene Stella Agyenim-Boateng; the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Stephen Abenney-Mickson; the Registrar, Lily Martina Yeboah Nutakor; the Ag. Dean, Central Business School Professor, Stephen Abenney-Mickson and the Head of Department, HRM, Dr Ophelia Zungbey, and other directors and heads of departments of the university, as well as staff of CIHRM.