Ashesi University has won the award for Best University Website from the Regional Information Network for Africa (RINAF).

The award was announced by Prof. Christine Kisiedu, faculty member in the Department of Information Studies at the University of Ghana Legon and Chair of the Ghana National Committee on Internet Connectivity (GNCIC) which presided over the competition.

RINAF, the competition sponsor, is a programme of the United Nations Education Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO).

In explaining the completion Prof. Kisiedu stated, 'the completion was conceived to promote the development of web design programmes on university campuses, by promoting an atmosphere of competition we hoped to encourage creativity and innovation among the participants.'

Nine websites representing seven Ghanaian universities participated in the competition. Decisions were made based on six criteria, each carrying a top score of 10 marks. Ashesi University took the top prize with 54 points from the website www.ashesi.edu.gh. Prof. Kisiedu declared Ashesi's website 'a class apart'.

Ashesi offers a four-year programme in Computer Science and students get individualised attention from faculties who have professional experience and web design and programming web applications.

Ashesi has excellent access to computers on campus, allowing its students easy access to the Internet and the latest computer software.

For winning the competition Ashesi will receive a new computer system valued at over 9.5 million cedis.

"We are very honoured to receive this award," said Patrick Awuah, founder and president of Ashesi University "and we commend RINAF and UNESCO for the work that they are doing to encourage the use of information technology in Ghana's educational institutions.

The runners-up in the competition were Central University College, www.centraluniversity.org with 42 points and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology www.knust.edu.gh with 41 points.