A classicist and an authority on higher education in development, Dr. Kwapong taught Greek, Latin and ancient history at the University of Ghana for more than a decade before becoming Vice-Chancellor.

Dr. Kwapong is a member of the boards of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies and the International Council for Educational Development. In recent years he has served on the boards of the Association of African Universities, the Association of Commonwealth Universities (President, 1971), the International Association of Universities, and the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (Vice-President). He was Chairman of the Education Review Committee of Ghana (1966-67), Chairman, Smithsonian Institution's Third International Symposium on "Man and Beast" (1969), and the J.B. Danquah Memorial Lecturer of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (1979). He is Member and a Fellow of that Academy and of the Phelps Stokes Fund.

He joined the faculty of the University of Ghana in 1953 as lecturer in classics and became a full professor in 1962. From 1962-66 he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Pro-Vice-Chancellor. In 1961-62 he was Visiting Professor of Classics at Princeton University, U.S.A. which awarded him an honorary degree in 1974. He also holds honorary degrees from the University of Warwick, UK, and the University of Ife, Nigeria. He was awarded the 1981 Simba Prize for Scholarly Essays (Rome). He is the author of numerous articles in scholarly journals. He was educated at Achimota College in Ghana and Cambridge University, UK, where he graduated with first class honours in both parts of the Classical Tripos in 1951. He was a scholar and Richards Prizeman of King's College and Cambridge University Sandys Research Student. He received his Ph.D. in classics in 1957.