EU strengthens ties with university students

05.06.2023 Press and information team of the Delegation to GHANA

In the context of its increasing support to youth and education in Ghana, the EU organised a series of lectures and workshops for Ghanaian students with visiting Professor of Rhetoric.

Prof. Michael Burke of University of Utrecht in The Netherlands, visited several universities in Accra and surroundings to engage students on the power and implications of reading and communication in a changing global context.

Michael Burke is Professor of Rhetoric at University College Roosevelt, Utrecht University in The Netherlands, where he is also the Head of the Arts & Humanities Department. He has been a Professor since 2012 and was the Honours Dean at Utrecht University in 2016-2021. In recent years, he has been a Visiting Professor at the universities of Glasgow, Cambridge and Bologna, and he has given keynote lectures and workshops across the world. In that time, he has published widely in the fields of language and communication.

Emmanuel Kwarteng

First stop on his journey in Ghana was a visit to Ashesi University, where he met with Ghanaian counterparts and discussed a possible cross-continental exchange programme. He then went on to lecture at the University of Media Arts and Communication (UniMAC) on Communication about Climate Change, where he received a warm welcome and a flood of questions from interested students – future journalists and leaders.

Finally, at the University of Ghana, home to over 70,000 + students, he gave one lecture on the future of reading in a digital world to the Department of Humanities and held a second session to the Department of Political Sciences the following day.

Despite this packed schedule, staff of the EU Delegation and EU Member States in Ghana also had the chance to benefit from Prof. Burke’s visit. They received workshops on pitching and speechwriting, essential skills for diplomats and their teams.