The Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) has produced 21 PhD graduates barely five years after its establishment.

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Frederick Kwaku Sarfo, announced the milestone at the university’s fourth congregation yesterday, where 8,165 students received certificates, diplomas and degrees before a packed auditorium that included Members of Parliament, and traditional leaders.

“We graduated one PhD student each at the Second and Third Congregations. Barely five years after our establishment as a university, we are conferring PhD degrees on 21 graduating students,” Prof. Sarfo told the gathering.

 “This is a significant achievement and it attests to the hard work and dedication of staff and students of this young University.”

The graduating class comprised 4,879 males (59.80 per cent) and 3,286 females (40.20 per cent), including 518 master’s degree holders, 5,701 bachelor’s degree recipients, 1,048 diploma graduates and 877 certificate earners.

The ceremony highlighted the university’s dramatic expansion, with student population surging to 38,692 in the 2024/2025 academic year from 30,453 the previous year a 27 per cent increase.

The Kumasi Campus hosts 29,217 students while the Asante Mampong Campus accommodates 9,475.

AAMUSTED now operates over 160 programmes 96 undergraduate and 64 postgraduate all integrated with Competency-Based Training, Work-Place Experience Learning, and practical attachments to ensure graduates are industry-ready.

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission has fully accredited 29 new Bachelor of Education programmes developed by the university for rollout in the 2025/2026 academic year, fulfilling government directives to prepare teachers for the new Senior High School Standard-Based Curriculum.

The university has secured $3,217,228 and €178,039 in international grants for ambitious projects including a Digital Skills Development Centre and Digital Marketing Laboratory funded by the European Union, as well as research into educational pressures funded by Science for Africa.

Prof. Ebenezer Bonyah, the university’s Director of Research, has been ranked among the top two per cent of scientists worldwide by Stanford University and Elsevier for five consecutive years, bringing international prestige to the young institution.

AAMUSTED has expanded its network to 35 local and 25 international collaborators, focusing on student and staff exchanges, research promotion, and capacity building.

The university recently launched two research journals—The Journal of Technical Education and Applied Sciences (JTEAS) and The Journal of Applied Social Science Studies and Entrepreneurial Education (JASSEE)—to serve as platforms for cutting-edge scholarship.

Recent infrastructure completion includes the Business Incubation and Innovation Centre and a 3,500-capacity ESA Lecture Block at the Kumasi Campus, both funded through internally generated funds.