Prof. Yankah
Professor Kwesi Yankah, Minister of State in-Charge of Tertiary Education, has said there is the need for technical universities to concentrate on their core mandate of training the youth to develop technical skills and competencies.
He said this feed the industrial operations, the development and growth of the country.
He said there was no need for technical universities to desperately seek academic laurels and charting paths that were normally associated with traditional liberal arts universities.
They should rather, ensure consistency in cultivating the technical university paradigm as it is globally accepted, and institute academic programmes and disciplines that are consistent with traditions of technical universities.
Professor Yankah, made the call at the 14th congregation of the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU).
Three thousand, one hundred and forty eight (3,148) students who have completed various programmes in the Higher National Diploma (HND), Bachelor of Technology (BTech) and diploma programmes for the 2017/2018 academic year were presented with their certificates.
Professor Yankah said there is no need for technical universities to follow the “maddening crowd towards the monotony of uniformity”.
They should position themselves towards the progressive path of differentiation and diversification by developing “assessment procedures, a culture of academic progression, while cultivating the passion for uniqueness and grow your niche programmes”.
The minister urged governing councils of technical universities to institute measures to guard against mission reversal and when tempted, “submit only to the temptation of innovative curriculum and programming”.
Professor Yankah said government on its part is doing everything to improve upon facilities in the technical universities and polytechnics, adding that the AVIC project that seeks to boost the quality of laboratories and equipment of technical universities was on course and would come to fruition this year.
Funds have also been made available to upgrade infrastructure, provide equipment and train staff, he said.
He said government was also undertaking several reforms to improve learning outcomes in technical universities to ensure that they become relevant to industry.
Professor Mike Acheampong, the acting Vice Chancellor of KsTU, said the university is commencing two new Master of Technology degree programmes in the 2019/2020 academic year.
He said they are Chemical Engineering and Renewable Energy Engineering.
Professor Acheampong said in response to a request from the National Council for Tertiary Education, KsTU has selected Renewable Energy and Environmental Engineering, which has been regarded as the future of engineering, as its niche area.
The university is currently working with three German universities of Applied Sciences to develop a “Green Campus” concept that was based on the application of renewable energy and sustainable waste management practices.
Professor Acheampong appealed to government to redouble its efforts in retooling the TVET institutions as the nation seeks to shift focus of its educational pattern from the “liberal and bookish system to more scientific, technical and vocational-oriented system”. GNA
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