Conversion of polytechnics to technical universities : workshop discusses key issues
Key stakeholders in the educational sector have recommended the involvement of the relevant industry and employers in the development of technical academic programmes.
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In addition, they also recommended the institutionalisation and prolonging of the period of internship for students to enable them to appreciate what was taught in class at the workplace.
The Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, who announced these at the opening of a two-day workshop to discuss the conversion of polytechnics into technical universities, said those recommendations were outcomes of an earlier conference on bridging the gap between the academia and industry.
Participants
The workshop, which is being attended by officials of the Ministry of Education, a delegation from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and rectors of polytechnics in the country, is a collaboration between the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and DAAD.
It is being organised on the theme, “Towards a Ghana-Germany partnership on the conversion of polytechnics to technical universities,” as a follow-up to an earlier visit of a Ghanaian delegation to the Republic of Germany to seek the support and collaboration of the German government in the conversion process.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang expressed gratitude to DAAD for showing commitment and support to the conversion process.
Technical report
“We have come very far with the finalisation of the report by the task force and selection of some polytechnics deemed ready to be converted at the take-off date in September 2016,” she told participants at the workshop.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang explained that the decision for rebranding technical education and refocusing on polytechnic education, was to make it more attractive to the youth.
The Head of Section Development and Co-operation: Partnership Programmes and Higher Education Management in Germany, Mr Michael Horig, stressed the need for academia to liaise with local industries.
He said Germany had a successful technical education sector, stressing that technical education was crucial for the growth of any economy.
The Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr Bernhard Abels, said DAAD was committed to its partnership towards the conversion process.
He recalled a number of development projects the DAAD was undertaking in Africa, with Ghana benefitting a lot from such programmes.
Links between academia and industry
The Chairman of the NCTE, Professor C.N.B. Tagoe, stressed that developing a strong relation between academia and industry was key to the conversion process saying “we expect our technical universities to be more practice-oriented.”
“We, therefore, expect them to develop closer partnerships with the local industry and lead the process of training and developing skilled manpower for the nation,” he said.
The Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, Professor Kwesi Botchwey, who chaired the function, was hopeful that such discussions could help fine-tune the conversion process, which he said was a very positive step.