MountCrest University College and IALS Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Develop Doctoral Studies Collaboration

Academics, staff and students standing and seated with Professor Carl Stychin who is seated 2nd from left.

The Director of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Professor Carl Stychin, travelled to Ghana to attend a ceremony marking the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with MountCrest University College in Accra. This marked a significant moment in the development of an ongoing collaboration between the two institutions. Under the agreement, legal academics in Ghana - beginning with those at MountCrest - will be able to enrol on the Institute’s Distance Learning Research Degrees Programme. This will allow them to obtain doctoral qualifications from the University of London while based in their home institution. Support for their studies will be offered at MountCrest in addition to University of London supervisors.

Professor Carl Stychin standing in the centre of a group of academic and students from Mountcrest University College with Ms Ms Irene Ansa-Asare standing to his left. — Professor Stychin (centre) with academic and students from Mountcrest University College

At the signing ceremony on 14th February, Professor Stychin was joined by Ms Irene Ansa-Asare, the Rector of MountCrest University College, as well as academics, staff and students. While at MountCrest, Professor Stychin also held a series of meetings with lecturers to discuss the programme and to offer support in the development of their research proposals.

Professor Carl Stychin seated left with Ms Irene Ansa-Asare seated to his right. — Professor Stychin (centre) with Irene Ansa-Asare, the Rector of MountCrest University College (right)

The trip included the opportunity to visit the site of the new MountCrest campus in Larteh, which is currently in development. Ms Ansa-Asare and Professor Stychin also visited former President of Ghana, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufour, who offered his strong support for the programme and best wishes for its success.

Professor Stychin explained,

the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies welcomes the opportunity to deepen our relationship with MountCrest University College, a young and dynamic institution which is expanding opportunities for education in Ghana. We look forward to working with MountCrest to develop a new generation of Ghanaian legal scholars and to support their ambitions for university charter status. This agreement is the cornerstone of the Institute’s international agenda, building on our long tradition of engagement in Ghana.

Ms Ansa-Asare said,

as MountCrest moves towards achieving charter status, it is our avowed commitment to shape the future of legal education in Ghana through international collaborations such as this one with the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. We are proud of our shared commitment towards the promotion of scholarship in law and of the role of the Institute in particular in achieving our goals.

MountCrest University College is a private tertiary institution in Ghana. It was founded in 2008 and is affiliated to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. MountCrest was Ghana’s first private institution to establish a faculty of law and is on course to obtain presidential charter with its own degree awarding powers. Its mission is “to train and prepare a new generation of graduates in body, mind and spirit, for the transformation of society”.

The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies was founded in 1947. It was conceived and is funded as a national academic institution, attached to the University of London, serving all universities through its national law library. The Institute’s mission is to promote, facilitate and disseminate the results of advanced study and research in the discipline of law, for the benefit of persons and institutions in the UK and abroad.