Mr. Isaac Nketsiah is the founding Technology Transfer Officer (Assistant Registrar) of the Technology Transfer Office at the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC). He is also the founding Administrator of the Turnitin Account, University of Cape Coast. Additionally, Isaac is the official Data Provider / Liaison Officer for the Times Higher Education World University Ranking (THE WUR)

Education

Isaac holds a research Master of Commerce (Finance) and Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) degrees from the University of Cape Coast; a certificate in Result-based Project Management: Monitoring and Evaluation from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg; a Certificate in Innovation and Information Technology Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Furthermore, Mr. Nketsiah holds certificate in Research Ethics from the Africa Bioethics Network, University of Zaragoza, Spain. He has been certified by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), for undertaking specialized and advanced IP courses and attended dozens of IP capacity building workshops and summer schools. In April 2021, Mr. Nketsiah was awarded a certificate in Advanced Course on Intellectual Property Management. In May 2021, he was one of the recipients of awards from Adams and Adams Attorney, Pretoria for Registered Design Application at the South African Summer School on Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer. Furthermore, in August 2021 Isaac undertook a specialized course on the Essentials of Patents by WIPO, Geneva. Currently, Mr. Nketsiah is a PhD candidate of Management and Entrepreneurship at the College of Law & Management Studies, University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. His core research domains include small enterprises development, intellectual property management and innovation, entrepreneurial finance, research integrity and ethics, project management and budgeting.

Experience

Mr. Nketsiah has over thirteen (13) years of  experience in research administration, projects management and consultancy engagements in different roles, such as project coordinator, co-consultant/investigator and principal investigator to funding agencies such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Bank of Ghana, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Global Brigades Organisation (GBO-Ghana) and the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), German Development Agency (GIZ), Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Ghana Rubber Estate (GREL), Rainforest Alliance (RA), EXIM Bank Ghana and Culture for Sustainable and Inclusive Peace (CUSP), UK. He has actively collaborated with other consultants to write and implement a number of research projects.

He has contributed to policy instruments developed in the University of Cape Coast to guide its internal processes. Notable among which include the Business and Enterprise Development Policy (a key policy document to transform UCC as an entrepreneurial university), Grants, Fundraising and Consultancy Policy as well as the Research Fund Policy for the UNESCO Category II Centre of Excellence, Institute of Educational Planning and Administration. He was a member of the committee that developed the first ever UCC Research and Innovation Reports, which have since received extensive critical acclaim. 

Mr. Nketsiah has been a part-time lecturer of Academic Writing for Graduate Students at the Departments of Adult Health and Immunology, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, since January, 2021.   Isaac is the Applied Research Team Lead implementing a 680, 000 Euro grant from DAAD under the Building Expertise and Training for Growth in the Consumer Goods and Food Processing Industry in Ghana (BET Ghana). 

Mr. Nketsiah has the knowledge and experience in quantitative and qualitative data collection methods including survey design and data analysis.  He has 18 publications in the form of a book, journal articles (5) and technical reports (12) to his credit.

Nationally, Mr. Nketsiah serves on the multi-stakeholder team drafting the Data Quality Assurance Framework (DQAF) for Ghana. 

Professional Membership

Professionally, he is a member of the following associations: West African Research and Innovation Management Association (WARIMA), Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA), Africa Evidence Network (AEN), European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI) and Social Science Research Network (SSRN). 

Awards

For his role as the official Data Provider for UCC and as Member of the maiden Times Higher Education World University Ranking committee, Mr. Nketsiah recently received two awards for his unique contribution to the sterling performance of UCC in the 2022 Times Higher Education World University Ranking (THE WUR) as the topmost ranked University in Ghana and West Africa, among the top 5 universities in Africa, among the top 350 universities and 1st in research influence globally. 

Statement of Teaching Philosophy-Isaac Nketsiah

I believe that the development of every nation hinges not only on financial resources but more importantly the quality of human resources with the expertise, necessary skills, abilities and competencies. At the core of my pedagogical philosophy is the principle, “we learn not for school, but for life.” Hence, I try to inculcate in my students these three guiding principles which are applicable to life-Honesty, Professionalism and Excellence. I believe in excellence in teaching. I give a lot of importance to how well I am prepared for my classes and how well I deliver my material to my students. At the same time, I believe that education is a joint effort between teachers and their students. Hence, I encourage my students to take an active part in learning through active class participation. This would help them to be highly proficient in their various fields of endeavors and also exhibit the highest standards of ethical behavior.

In addition to using a combination of textbook information, business world examples, a little sense of humor and examples from our day-to-day lives to make the subject matter interesting and practical useful to them, I invite guest speakers from local industry to various classes to share their opinions, wisdom, and professional expertise with the students. A case in point is when I invited an experienced Management Accountant to engage the students on their career prospects and industry requirements.

Moreover, I want my students to enjoy the learning process, to look forward to each class meeting and to leave the classroom at the end of the semester with a feeling of satisfaction from having learned something new and useful. To achieve this, I make extensive use of the current technology in delivering quality instruction to my students. This involves posting the course materials on the class WhatsApp platform, keeping constant communication with my students via email and WhatsApp and Facebook. I also do engage my students after classroom hours. I have created a WhatApp platform where my students freely share their views on lessons taught. This helps me to evaluate my teaching methods and try to bring improvements in them based on my experience with every class of students. I always seek input from my students as to how I can make the subject matter more interesting in the future without compromising the quality of education. My goal is to provide the learning experience that will enable the student to have the opportunity to effectively compete and excel in the global business environment with honesty, professionalism and excellence.