Technical Universities called to bridge the gap between academia, industry

Minister of State in- charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah, has called on technical universities to close the gap between academia and industry.

He said the upgrading of polytechnics to technical universities also amounted to an increase in responsibilities for the staff and managers of the technical universities.

Prof Yankah was speaking at the 13th graduation ceremony of the Koforidua Technical University (KTU) at Koforidua, the Eastern Region capital.

In all, the institution conferred Bachelor of Technology (B’ Tech) and Higher National Diploma (HND) certificates on 1,910 graduates.

He said government shall respond to the human resource and equipment needs of technical universities and urged them to strive to make their new designation more meaningful through curriculum content and research.

Prof Yankah said the government would boost technical and vocational training alongside the free Senior High School (SHS) policy with the introduction of free technical and vocational education system.

He said the government’s agenda to transform Technical, Vocational Education Training (TVET) was aimed at raising the standard of technical and vocational education to turn out talented young men and women to meet the needs of industry and the country.

Prof Mrs Smile Dzisi, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, said student enrolment has increased and the student population currently stands at 6,183, with 3,709 being males and 2,474 being females.

She said the University has added three Bachelor of Technology programmes and two HND programmes to its portfolio to help meet the needs of industry, which brings the total number of HND and Bachelor of Technology programmes to 21 and 13 respectively.

She said 37 curricula have been designed for 4-year Bachelors’ degree programmes as alternatives to the current HND and top-up B. Tech programmes.

Prof Dzisi said the University seeks to blend theoretical training with the hands-on, problem-solving and competency-based training methodology in training their students.

She said in response to the demands of industry and in accordance with the mandate of the university, about 75 percent of the study programmes are in science and technology-based disciplines.

The overall best B’Tech student award was presented to Robert Israel Ahiagbenyo, whiles, Michael Adu Nti was adjudged the overall best HND Student and the Vice Chancellor’s special award for the overall best female student award went to Veronica Akotuah Oparebea.

The best female engineering graduating student for HND went to Ursula Yawson.