Professor Christian Agyare last Saturday August 1, 2026 officially assumed office as the 13th Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi. He will serve a four-year term which ends on July 31, 2030.
He succeeds Professor Rita Akosua Dickson, the first female Vice-Chancellor of the premier science and Technology University in Ghana.
Professor Agyare joins the leadership of KNUST with more than two decades of academic, research and administrative experience, having served the university in various capacities.
Until his appointment as Vice-Chancellor last May, he was the Provost of the College of Health Sciences, KNUST’s largest and most complex academic college.
A Professor of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Professor Agyare is recognised internationally for his research contributions in areas including natural products pharmacology, antimicrobial resistance, wound healing, ethnopharmacology, parasitology and anticancer drug discovery.
He holds Bachelor of Pharmacy and Master of Pharmacy degrees from KNUST and obtained a Doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.) degree from the University of Münster, Germany.
He later undertook postdoctoral and research appointments at Novartis/Seeding Labs in Boston and the University of California, San Francisco, where he worked on pharmaceutical research and parasitic disease discovery.
Professor Agyare has published more than 200 peer-reviewed research papers and has earned over 5,000 citations, with an H-index of 36 and an i10-index of 84. His research work has attracted more than US$11 million in competitive funding from international institutions, including the German Research Foundation, German Academic Exchange Service, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Mastercard Foundation and the World Bank.
At KNUST, he has held several leadership positions, including serving on the University Executive Committee, Academic Board, Planning and Resources Committee, Budgetary Committee and the Appointments and Promotions Committee.
Between 2016 and 2020, he headed the Quality Assurance and Planning Unit, where he led reforms aimed at improving institutional governance, accountability and efficiency.
As Provost of the College of Health Sciences from 2020, Professor Agyare supervised the introduction of new undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, increased postgraduate enrolment and supported infrastructure development.
His vision for the university is focused on strengthening research, promoting entrepreneurship, embracing technology-driven transformation and improving student-centred learning.
Professor Agyare is also a Fellow of the Ghana College of Pharmacists and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana. He is a distinguished alumnus of Prempeh College, a practising pharmacist and a member of the Kwadaso Methodist Church.
Addressing the investiture ceremony, the Chancellor of KNUST, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene charged the new VC to preserve and strengthen the University’s enviable tradition of academic excellence, innovation, integrity and transformational leadership.
The Asantehene urged Prof. Agyare to build on the enduring legacy established by his predecessors while steering the University to even greater heights in research, teaching, innovation and global competitiveness.
The Chancellor urged the newly inducted VC to lead with humility, fairness and consultation while encouraging Professor Agyare to turn challenges into opportunities and strengthening confidence among students, staff and other stakeholders.
The Asantehene also emphasised the importance of inclusive leadership in advancing the university’s academic and institutional development.
The investiture ceremony was witnessed by the Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Dr. Julius Debrah, members of academia, traditional leaders, religious and political personalities.
Meanwhile, Professor Christian Agyare, has called for unity across all sections of the university community, indicating that the institution’s future can only be secured through a shared purpose and collective commitment.
He stressed that KNUST’s vision would be realised only when every stakeholder works together as one family.
He also called on the various unions on the university’s campus, including the UTAG, GAUA, TEWU-TUC, TEWU-GH, SSAK, management, faculty, staff, students, and alumni, to work together to realise the institution’s vision.
“A university is only ever as strong as the people who built it and the system that sustained it. Brilliant minds working within broken structures will always fall short of their true potential. It is, therefore, my firm conviction that institutional excellence begins from within”, he noted.
He said his third priority is how all stakeholders would work together and invest in the most valuable assets being the people.
VC Agyare emphasised that “the future we seek cannot be achieved through division, fragmentation or competing interests noting that it will be realised only when we embrace a shared purpose and work together as one university community”.
The Vice Chancellor also outlined an ambitious vision to deepen KNUST’s status as a globally recognised centre of excellence in teaching, research, innovation and entrepreneurship, with a focus on supporting Ghana’s industrial and socio-economic development.
Professor Agyare said his administration would pursue institutional transformation through adaptive governance, sustainable resource management, strategic partnerships, inclusivity and technology-driven development.
He noted that KNUST’s intellectual capital, alumni network and research capacity must be harnessed to drive innovation, impactful research and transformative teaching.
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