Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints deepens education investment with Accra centre

A new Global Education Center under construction in Accra is expected to expand access to digital learning and employment resources for students enrolled in BYU-Pathway Worldwide, Elder Clark G. Gilbert, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has said.

According to him, the centre would provide students with technology, study space and other resources to support their education and professional development. The centre, which is being constructed near the Accra Ghana Temple, is expected to house more than 100 computers. “It’s in the high-rise building just down the street. It looks out over our church’s temple here,” Elder Gilbert said in an interview during a visit to Ghana as part of a tour of the Church’s Africa West Area.

He said the facility would bring together several elements of students’ academic and professional lives, allowing them to study, access employment resources and participate in other educational activities. “Early next year, we will dedicate the BYU Pathway Global Education Center here in Accra,” he said.

The development builds on a programme that began in Accra in 2011 with a small group of students sharing a single computer. Elder Gilbert said BYU-Pathway had since expanded substantially across West Africa. “Today, across all of West Africa, we have almost 40,000 students,” he said.

The programme provides online higher education in fields including accounting, project management, social media marketing, digital marketing and healthcare management. Students can begin with job-skills certificates before progressing towards associate and bachelor’s degrees, while the programme uses the same curriculum and assessments as the Church’s universities in the United States, according to Elder Gilbert.

The centre is also intended to address practical barriers to online education. Elder Gilbert said Church buildings provide internet access that students can use to participate in online classes.

The Church’s recent account of its Africa West education programme said the Accra centre would provide students with access to technology, study space, institute classes and employment resources. It also said the centre forms part of a wider expansion of Global Education Centers in areas where students have limited access to local educational resources.

Elder Gilbert said the wider objective was to ensure that young people had opportunities to develop their abilities. “These students are capable. They can do amazing things. They just need the opportunity,” he said in remarks published following his visit.

The education initiative comes amid continuing concerns about the transition of Ghanaian young people from education into employment. A recent 3News analysis highlighted the difficulties faced by graduates entering a labour market where academic qualifications do not necessarily translate into employment opportunities.

Beyond Ghana, BYU-Pathway has been expanding its network of Global Education Centers, with the centres designed to provide students with technology, reliable internet and opportunities for collaborative learning. The organisation says its online model is intended to make higher education more accessible to students who face financial, geographical or technological barriers.

Elder Gilbert said the Accra facility represented a significant change from the programme’s beginnings in Ghana. In 2011, he said, the first students had gathered around one computer to participate in their classes. The new centre, with more than 100 computers, represents the scale of the programme’s subsequent expansion.