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Ashesi University
Educational Institutions
Active
Eastern Region, Ghana
Editorial Summary
Ashesi University is a private, not-for-profit university in Ghana founded in 2002 by Ghanaian entrepreneur and educator Patrick G. Awuah, Jr. The institution opened with a pioneering class of 30 students after Awuah left Microsoft in 1997 to pursue his vision of creating a new model of higher education in Africa.
Ashesi was established around a distinctive educational philosophy combining rigorous academics, multidisciplinary learning, ethical leadership, entrepreneurship, critical thinking and civic responsibility. Its early academic model was developed with input from faculty advisers at Swarthmore College, UC Berkeley and the University of Washington, while its student-led honor code became a defining feature of its approach to institutional culture and academic integrity.