Technical Universities are not the preserve of poor-performing students – Vice-Chancellor

Professor Elias N.K. Sowley, the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Dr Hilla Limann Technical University (DHLTU), says it is not true that technical universities are the preserve of school dropouts or poor-performing students.

He said that in some countries, highly intelligent people attended technical universities because the training in those institutions required a high level of reasoning and intelligence.

Prof. Sowley, who said this at the DHLTU during a brief ceremony to hand over classroom furniture to the Kpongu community, observed that there was a vast difference between the technical university and the traditional university in the training they offered.

“Here, we are training people who will get skills that will help them employ themselves and others.

“Even if you have the same programme as other institutions that are not technical universities, mind you, that person who comes here gets more practical skills they can demonstrate.

“If the person says he is an engineer, he can dismantle an engine and reassemble it, that’s the type of training we are providing here”, he explained.

The DHLTU donated 60 mono-desks to the Al-Azhar Junior High School in Kpongu, a community in the Wa Municipality, in fulfilment of its Corporate Social Responsibility.

The donation followed a request made by the leadership of the school to the university for support to help solve the furniture problem.

Checks at the Al-Azhar JHS revealed that there were 149 students at the school who relied on only 58 personal desks before the support of the DHLTU.

Prof. Sowley indicated that the request by the school was timely as it was the responsibility of his outfit to render such support even without the request of the community.

“As a higher education institution in this locality, it is our obligation to help the institutions around us, and even though we are struggling ourselves as a new university we need to learn to give.

“Every institution must give back to society, so when you made the request, we thought it was in order. We should have thought about it even before you came”, he explained.

He entreated the management of the school to ensure the furniture was put to good use for the children to benefit from them, saying, “Some of them may even end up here (DHLTU) as students.”

Prof. Sowley gave the assurance that they would continue to support the school not necessarily in material terms but in some training for the staff and even the students.

“Even if we are not giving you things directly, we may be able to recommend some organisations to come to the aid of the school because we regard the community as a major stakeholder,” he explained.

The beneficiaries thanked the management of DHLTU for their support and said it would bring relief to the students as far as issues of furniture were concerned.

Mr Adamu Mahama, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) Chairman of the school, pledged that the furniture would be put to good use and prayed for God’s blessing for the university.