VC advocates incentive packages for TVET students

Professor Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, the Vice-Chancellor of the Sunyani Technical University (STU) on Friday, advocated incentives packages for Engineering, Science and Technology and TVET students at tertiary levels.

This would greatly entice more of the youth to enter into the programmes that would help the nation address her protracted high levels of graduate unemployment in the country.

Speaking at the 25th matriculation ceremony (virtual) of the university in Sunyani, Prof Adinkrah-Appiah emphasised engineering and TVET education would not only address teeming graduate employment, but push rapid socio-economic growth and development as well.

The university issued admission letters to a total of 5,054 prospective students, and only 2,695 applicants, representing 53.3 per cent responded and were admitted for the 2020/2021 academic year and they comprised 1,796, males, representing 66.6 percent and 899 females, representing 33.4 per cent.

Prof Adinkrah-Appiah indicated turn-out for the university had fallen from 73.3 per cent to 53.3 per cent, and attributed it partly to the keen competition with other public universities in the first batch of the Free SHS graduates from the Second Cycle Institutions.

Also, some universities adopted other strategies to increase their intake astronomically and this leaves other emerging universities, such as the STU and other Technical Universities, with only a little chance of enrolling an appreciable number of students into their newly introduced Science, Engineering and TVET programmes.

That notwithstanding, Prof Adinkrah-Appiah noted enrolment statistics over the past four years at the STU indicated that admission into its Engineering, TVET, Technology and Science-based programmes at both HND and B-Tech levels, had seen appreciable yearly increase compared with a decline in Business programmes.

“This positive trend must be sustained as it responds to the GTEC Norms on enrolment and our core mandate as a technical university per the Technical Universities Act, 2016 (Act 922)”, he added.

Prof Adinkrah-Appiah explained the university had introduced a number of new 4-year B-Tech degree Programmes, whilst plans were far advanced to introduce many more and Master of Technology (M-Tech) programmes in the near future.

The current B-Tech programmes at the university include Bachelor of Technology, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bachelor of Technology, Mechanical Engineering (Automobile, Plant, Production), and Bachelor of Technology and Civil Engineering.

Others are Bachelor of Technology and Construction Technology, Bachelor of Technology, Fashion Design, Bachelor of Technology, Hospitality and Tourism Management and Bachelor of Technology, Agriculture.

Prof Adinkrah-Appiah urged students to take advantage to apply, and enroll into the programmes to acquire the requisite knowledge to build themselves for the job market.

Mr Samuel Ankamah Obour, the Registrar of the STU, explained matriculation officially admitted students to the university, warning that students who failed to go through the matriculation oath would not be allowed to write the university examination.