[2][3][4] After his undergraduate studies, Akyeampong proceeded to the United Kingdom and enrolled at the University of London for his postgraduate research.
[2][3][4] He was admitted to Imperial College London in 1963 to complete the foundational diploma course in Mathematical Physics prior to his doctoral work.
[2] He later recalled the unexpected turns in his academic journey: "Professor Abdus Salam taught the class in group theory.
Following my successful completion of the coursework in the summer of 1964, he invited me to his office one day, and told me about a new international centre for theoretical physics to be established in Trieste, Italy, which he was going to direct in the autumn of the same year, and the reason why he expected me to join him there.
That was how in October 1964, Jimmy Boyce, Ray Rivers and myself became the first postgraduate students of Salam in Trieste, and so had the honour of joining the post doctoral colleagues Bob Delbourgo and John Strathdee to become members of the group that was christened by Ms. Jean Bouckley and Ms Miriam Lewis as "the Salam Boys".
[2][3] About the vibrant scholarly culture at the Trieste institution, Akyeampong recounted:"Salam worked hard to get the Centre known world-wide and we were naturally infected by his ceaseless dedication.
These became physics working lunches - with paper napkins serving as writing equipment - and each session usually ended with several suggestions from Salam or Bob or John for us graduate students to pursue later.
The excitement and enthusiasm Salam displayed were infectious; and later when I had the privilege to collaborate with Delbourgo, who was my unofficial supervisor, it became clear that he was indeed a chip off the old block.
[2][3] In 1982, while serving as the departmental chairman, he was promoted to the rank of full Professor of Mathematics - the first Ghanaian to achieve that distinction at the university.
[2][3] He held several concurrent appointments outside the university:[2][3][4] A member of the African Mathematical Union, he served as an assistant editor of its journal, Afrika Matematica.