Ghana urged to rethink establishment of Technical Universities

The President of the Central University College, Professor Kwesi Yankah has called for a rethinking on converting all the polytechnics in the country into technical universities.

He explained that, if the idea is implemented, the country risks returning “home one day to find a missing generation of middle level skillful technicians, who had been replaced by a set of theoretical skills.”

Professor Yankah was delivering the keynote address at the formal opening of the Eighth Annual International Applied Research Conference of the Koforidua Polytechnic at Koforidua.

The conference is under the theme “Applied Research, Essential for National Development” and its being organized in collaboration with the Methodist University, with the participation of many research scientists and students from the Koforidua Polytechnic.

He said though the founders of the country saw the need for a strong scientific research base for the development of the country, which saw the establishment of the Ghana Academic of Arts and Sciences and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, one would have expected Ghana to have a strong research output.

However, relationship between research and tertiary institutions, as well as industry and national development is not as expected, leading to low productivity, poor national planning, leading to high graduate employment.

Professor Yankah called for a strong relationship between tertiary institutions and industry, with representatives of men and women of industry serving on the governing council and the governing board of universities and polytechnics.

He called for the intensification of relationship between the industrial hub of Tema, North Kaneshie Industerial Area, Suame Magazine, Kokompe and the communication hub with the tertiary and research institutions in the country.

He called on tertiary institutions to formulate internship programmes that would ensure that, trainees are immersed in the world of work and develop the passion for the work of industry.

Professor Yankah called on tertiary institutions to follow up the work of their trainees and seek feedback and report from the supervisors of trainees and placement exercise of industry.

He explained that, such follow-ups enable early intervention and quick application of corrective measures when necessary.

Professor Yankah called on tertiary institutions to institutionalize tracer studies to enable them to follow-up on the progress of their graduates in the employment world, to determine the adequacy and relevance of their training impart, with the view of improving their curriculum.

He said by doing so, the country would be reducing the gab between research, academia and national development.

The chairman for the occasion, Professor Sylvester Achio, the Rector of Accra Polytrchnic, called for creativity, and urged tertiary institutions to come out with curricula that would enable them to produce graduates with employable skills to help reduce the gab between research, industry and national development.

He called for the provision of more resources for research in the country.