The Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) in the Upper East Region, Professor Samuel Erasmus Alnaa, has reiterated the need for government to as a matter of urgency provide the university with academic-user facilities – especially a lecture theatre complex to aid skill development.
According to him, this would enable management to provide quality teaching and learning to complement government’s agenda of enhancing Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in meeting the technical university’s mandate of producing quality human resources for the nation’s job industries.
The VC made the call during the 11th graduation ceremony of the university, and stressed that the situation of inadequate lecture halls is now becoming a bigger challenge than before.
He disclosed that recently, the BTU had to give up about ten lecture rooms for the installation of some electronic equipment for the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) Project for Teaching and Learning – thereby compounding the situation.
He added that with launching the university’s 10-year Strategic Plan for 2023-2032, the institution was very optimistic about the high enrolment figures for the university, hence the urgent need for government to support the school with a lecture theatre complex.
He reiterated the need to introduce several new programmes at the Diploma, HND and Bachelor of Technology levels, and hinted that plans are also far advanced to introduce a Master of Science in its niche area of Agriculture.
“We are still desirous of introducing new programmes in mining engineering, processing, engineering as well as welding and fabrication, to take care of the growing mining industry needs within Northern Ghana. Again, the university is considering extending the competency-based training to all programmes in the near-future,” Professor Alnaa disclosed.
He explained that in order to help competent-based training for students in TVET to feed the nation’s manpower needs, the university has intensified its collaboration with industry – especially those in TVET areas – to fine-tune its hands-on training for its graduates and entrepreneurship development.
Professor Alnaa congratulated the 578 graduates who obtained Bachelor of Technology degrees, Higher National Diploma degrees and Professional Diploma degrees in Procurement and Logistics Management; Agriculture Engineering; Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management; Computerized Accounting; Secretaryship and Management; Marketing, and Accountancy among others.
He expressed happiness about the 98 students who obtained first-class, especially because 60 of them were females – and encouraged other female students to see their predecessors as role-models to also obtain the same grades.
