Ghanaian-German Center for Development Studies (GGCDS)
ZEF and the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) jointly run the Ghanaian-German Center for Development Studies (GGCDS) at the University of Ghana. The program is part of the Ghanaian-German Center for Development and Health Research. GGCDS is built on the following pillars: a PhD program, staff development and enhanced research infrastructure at ISSER, development of joint research projects and academic exchange and networking.
Excellence in and from Africa
The Center of African Excellence in Accra, Ghana, belongs to the five "Centres of Excellence" on the African continent initiated by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in 2008.
Since the first year of enrolment, 2009, 14 students have been participating in GGCDS. In May 2012, the first student of the program graduated. You can read an excerpt from the interview, which was conducted shortly after he graduated below.
Michael Ayamga, the program's first graduate, told us about his experiences:
“The doctoral program offers a great opportunity to get in touch with other researchers from Ghana and Germany. During the initial workshop in Ghana we learnt a lot from the German researchers who held the workshop. These lecturers were also the first contact persons at ZEF – these contacts turned out to be very useful in the process of conducting my research and writing my thesis. Moreover, the institutional framing at the University of Ghana was much better than at other universities. We had a very good access to resources like books and other scientific literature.
Our supervisors were very engaged and there were no delays in the marking of our work. The fact that I was able to complete my PhD within three years shows that this is an extraordinary course. Important was the scholarship from DAAD that enabled me to focus 100% on my doctoral course”.
Facts & people
Team members
at ZEF: Prof. Dr. Solvay Gerke (ZEF Director), Dr. Wolfram Laube (Project Coordination), Christian Petersheim (Project Administration)
at ISSER: Prof. Dr. Peter Quartey (ISSER Director), Dr. Martha Awo (PhD program coordinator)
Funding institutions
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), German Federal Foreign Office
Duration of the project: 2008 - 2023
Contact: Wolfram Laube, wlaube(at)uni-bonn.de
