Ghana had the privilege to host the fifth ACE workshop from May 17-19, 2016 at the La-Palm Royal Beach hotel, Accra. Present at the workshop were representatives from the World Bank, Association of African Universities (AAU), National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and the 22 ACEs in West and Central Africa.

Prof. Jane Naana Opoku- Agyeman, the Minister of Education, Ghana gave the welcome remarks. In her remarks, she reiterated government's commitment to the ACE project.

For the first time, Vice Chancellors from a number of the ACE institutions were present at the workshop including, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey the VC of the University of Ghana, to share their experiences on the implementation of the project.

Progress reports on the status of the ACE projects and an update on disbursement of funds was presented by the AAU and World Bank representatives. During parallel presentations by the 22 ACEs in three breakout sessions (STEM, Health and Agriculture), each ACE presented a brief status update and their awards and achievement were outlined. Other issues on Procurement, Financial Management and Monitoring & Evaluation were discussed.

The sixth ACE project workshop will take place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from November 15-17, 2016.

The VC, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, with the centre Leaders and team members from the University of Ghana ACEs, WACCBIP and WACCI.