Skip to main content
Submitted by nyankum.cobbinah on 18 May 2021
Dr. Francis Ansah
Head of Academic Programmes
Profile

Dr. Ansah is the Head of Academic Programmes and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration, a UNESCO Category II Centre of Excellence at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. He currently teaches graduate courses in Educational Research Methods, Educational Policy Analysis, Higher Education Institutions and their Environment, Institutional Planning and Evaluation, and Human Resource Development in Institutions.

Dr. Ansah holds a PhD in Education in Quality Assurance in Higher Education from the La Trobe University, Melbourne - Australia, an M. Sc. in Educational Policy and Management Studies from the  University of Twente, Enschede – The Netherlands, and a B.A (Management Studies) from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. 
Dr. Ansah is a part-time lecturer at the College of Distance Education, UCC and a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Department of Teacher Education, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. Prior to joining UCC and the IEPA, Dr. Ansah was the Director of Internal Quality Assurance at the Garden City University College in Kumasi-Ghana ( 2013 -2014), the Assitant Registrar-Administration also at the Garden City University College in Kumasi -Ghana (2009-2010) and the Assistant Registrar at the Bolgatanga Polythenic in Bolgatanga -Ghana (2006-2009).
Dr. Ansah’s commitment to research is admirable. He has led major research that has provided valuable insights for educational policy and planning. Currently, he is the Co-Principal Investigator of the Centre for Global Development (CGD) commissioned research, “The Educational Impacts of COVID-19: Policy-Relevant Research in Ghana”. He was also the West Africa Coordinator/Researcher on the Carnegie Corporation of New York $260,000 commissioned research project dubbed ‘Mapping Higher Education Policies in Africa (MHEPA), the Co-Principal Investigator on the $30,000 Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Dakar Senegal, commissioned research on “Re-conceptualization of Quality Assurance in African Higher Education: In search for an Afrocentric approach”, the Co-Principal Investigator on the £35,000 British Council Commissioned/Funded Research on “Investigating Transnational Education (TNE) Partnerships and the Environment of Distance Learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Ghana”, the College Improvement Advisor on the Government of Ghana Project to improve Colleges of Education in Ghana “Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL), among others. 
As an astute Researcher, Dr. Ansah has over twenty (20) publications, journals, chapters in books and books to his credit. The five (5) most recent publications in 2019-2020 are: Enhancing post-graduate programme effectiveness through tracer studies: the reflective accounts of a Ghanaian nation-wide graduate tracer study research team; Quality in Higher Education; Examining Gendered Structures, Cultures and Practices of Ghana’s Colleges of Education. Tertiary Education Series, 9(1), 25-44; Affiliation policy rhetoric and reality in the Ghanaian higher education context. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 41(2), 204-218; Internal quality assurance in Colleges of Education in Ghana: An Institutional Theory Perspective. Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, 33(2), 123-136 and No PhD, no tenure policy – is it the best way forward?, University World News.
Dr. Ansah served and continues to serve on committees and boards. He is a Member of the Academic Audit Team, National Accreditation Board,  the Academic Advisor for MPhil Students, Co-ordinator for  MPhil Programmes,  the Co-ordinator of Outreach Programmes and In-Service Unit and a member of the Curriculum Review Committee, all at IEPA. 

Dr. Ansah is the proud recipient of the following prizes, grants and scholarship: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODRESIA), Visiting Scholar at Institute for Post School Studies, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa (2018), Carnegie Corporation of New York Visiting Scholar at Institute for Post School Studies, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa (2018), La Trobe University Postgraduate Scholarship (2010-2013) and the NUFFIC/NPT 045 Project Postgraduate Scholarship Award (2005 -2006).