Ghana Government Urged To Consult Polytechnics On Conversion Matters

Professor Abdulai Salifu Asuro, the Rector of Tamale Polytechnic, has appealed to the Government to give the Polytechnics more representation on the teams and committees working on the conversion of the polytechnics into technical universities.

Prof Asuro who made the appeal at the 9th Congregation of the Tamale Polytechnic in Tamale, at the weekend, stated that it was the surest good way for the laudable dream to grow and bear the expected fruit.

“Certain key decisions involving the conversion are taken before the Rectors and Polytechnic Community are asked to contribute,” he complained.

“It is not to the blind side of everyone here that similar well-thought out ideas have failed not for the lack of funds but because the targeted beneficiaries had not been adequately consulted or involved in the implementation process of such projects”.

Prof. Asuro also said the thorny issue in relation to the government’s support for research and the replacement of the existing book and research fund with a research fund needed to be discussed thoroughly with the Polytechnic Teachers’ Association of Ghana”.

He said: “I am reliably informed that tempers are getting flared on our various Polytechnic campuses because of this”, and appealed to the Government to take urgent steps to address the issue.

Prof Asuro gave the assurance that the Tamale Polytechnic would continue to introduce industry-specific, specialised programmes to cater for the country’s industrial needs.

A total of 1,560 students graduated with Higher National Diploma Certificates in various disciplines, including Accounting, Marketing, Agricultural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Statistics, Building Technology, amongst others.

Alhaji Abdullah Salifu, the Chairman of the Governing Council of Tamale Polytechnic, said: “In a bid to ensure quality teaching and learning at the School of Engineering, the Polytechnic has procured an auto-diagnostic equipment through the Skills Development Fund to set up an ultra-modern auto-diagnostic laboratory to diagnose vehicles”.

Alhaji Salifu appealed to the Ghana Education Trust Fund to release more funds for the completion of infrastructural projects at the Polytechnic to facilitate even a better teaching and learning environment.


Source: GNA

Kumasi Polytechnic gets mechatronics laboratory

A laboratory (mechatronics laboratory) to train engineering students of the Kumasi Polytechnic, especially in computer and solar energy, has been completed at a cost of $3 million.

Mechatronics is a multidisciplinary field of engineering that includes mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, control and computer engineering.

Already, the Kumasi Polytechnic has established a centre for renewable energy and energy efficiency towards ensuring that the school becomes self-sufficient in the provision of its own electricity.

The Rector of the Kumasi Polytechnic, Professor Nicholas N.N. Nsowah-Nuamah, made this known to the Daily Graphic during a workshop on the transformation of the polytechnics into technical universities last Tuesday in Kumasi.

He said while the laboratory would be used to impart knowledge about solar energy to the students, the Centre for Renewable Energy of the school would be charged with the responsibility for providing solar and manure energy for the school’s new campus at Kutunase.

Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah said feasibility studies on the provision of adequate and potable water from yet-to-be-drilled wells on the school’s campuses were also ongoing.

Kumasi Polytechnic was in the news recently for owing water and electricity bills. It owed the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) GH¢3 million and the Ghana Water Company GH¢456,777.

Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah said the school did not want to be saddled with the payment of electricity and water bills, when it had the capacity and capability to generate its own power and water and sell surpluses to the utility providers.

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On the polytechnic’s preparations towards becoming a technical university, Professor Nsowah-Nuamah said the school was almost ready, both in terms of infrastructure and human resource.

On human resource, he explained that currently the Kumasi Polytechnic could boast 30 doctorate degree holders and more than 60 senior lecturers, 30 of whom had submitted their works to be promoted.

That, he further explained, meant that by next year, the Kumasi Polytechnic would be having 100 professors at the proposed technical university.

Technical universities

Prof. Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, a former Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), who gave a briefing on the status and workings of technical universities, said they were structured to have strong links with industry and business and offered programmes that were vocationally oriented and career focused.

He said the technical universities would also support existing and emerging productive sectors of the economy with technical expertise, adding that technical universities also placed emphasis on innovation and applications of new technologies.

- By Donald Ato Dapatem, graphic.com.gh