'Don’t deviate from your mandate' - VC urges technical universities

Technical universities in the country have been urged not to deviate from their mandate to deliver a high-level of manpower and practical skills that the country requires for progress.

Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana gave the advice during the first session (virtual) of the 13th congregation for Bachelor Technology programmes of the Sunyani Technical University (STU).

Speaking at the ceremony, Ms. Appiah Amfo called on the government to recognize graduates of technical universities in their placement in order to create the enabling environment for sustainable jobs.

“Believe me, successful entrepreneurship is not as dependent on our course structure as is on the business environment. Now that it is abundantly clear that it is impossible for the public sector to absorb all the graduates that we are producing, the government needs to move the entrepreneurship talk to the next level of practicalization”, she stressed.

“We need to walk the talk and put our money, where our mouths are” Nana Amfo added and reminded the graduates that “life of a technical graduate can be unpredictable, strenuous and exhausting. But all these provide moments of opportunity to bring true change and valued service to our communities and the world”.

On his part, Professor Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, the Vice-Chancellor of the STU, explained that the university has obtained accreditation to run seven new four-year BTech programmes, which would be rolled in January 2021.

They include; BTech Mechanical Engineering, BTech Civil Engineering, BTech Construction and Technology, BTech Hospitality and Tourism Management, BTech General Agriculture and BTech Fashion Design Technology.

These programmes, According to Prof Adinkrah-Appiah, would be run concurrently with the existing 11 top-up BTech programmes at the university.

However, a total of 389 graduates have been awarded Bachelor of Technology degrees in Engineering, TVET, Applied Science and Technology, Applied Arts as well as Business and Management disciplines at the ceremony held under the theme “Technical and Vocational Education Training: the key to sustainable job creation in Ghana”.