It gives us great pleasure to share our final speaker announcement for our virtual 2020 CIS Global Forum on International Admission & Guidance.

Patrick Gyimah Awuah Jr is the Founder and President of Ashesi University, a private, not-for-profit institution in Ghana. Patrick was educated at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, USA on a near-full scholarship in 1985. In 2001, Patrick was a Program Manager at Microsoft and returned to Ghana to found Ashesi University. He holds Bachelor degrees in Engineering and Economics from Swarthmore College; an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business; and honorary doctorates from Swarthmore College, Babson College and University of Waterloo. 

Patrick’s forum keynote will be about Educating the Next Generation of Ethical Leaders 
He will discuss his journey with establishing Ashesi University and some of the key factors for Ashesi’s success in developing leaders for the African continent. He will also discuss the types of skills this generation of global citizens needs to tackle the world’s challenges, how our institutions can cultivate these skills, and how the admission and guidance community can advise and match students with opportunities to develop these skills.

More about Patrick: He is the winner of many awards including the Order of the Volta by His Excellency, President J.A. Kufuor, the Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award, an Elon Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership, the McNulty Prize and the MacArthur Fellowship, and named one the 50 greatest leaders in the world by Fortune Magazine. Patrick was recognized by Africa Leadership Initiative—West Africa (ALIWA) as a “Genius Fellow” an honour reserved for only 20 people around the world. The Qatar Foundation named Patrick the 2017 WISE Prize for Education Laureate. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named Patrick to a new 16-member International Commission as part of UNESCO's Futures of Education initiative. He is a Fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative; a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; and a member of the Tau Beta Pi honor society for excellence in engineering. 

Watch this WISE Award video for some more insight on Patrick