Appoint substantive VC for Accra Technical University — Alumni
The Alumni Association of the Accra Technical University (ATU) has asked the university's council to, as a matter of urgency, start the process to quickly appoint a new Vice-Chancellor for the institution.
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It explained that the absence of a substantive vice-chancellor of the university for the past eight months was affecting the running of the university because the pro-vice-chancellor, who is acting as the vice-chancellor, is unable to take certain decisions because he is only acting.
"So as an alumni association, we think it is necessary that a substantive vice-chancellor is appointed to take over the helm of affairs of the university.
“Even though the acting vice-chancellor is doing well in the acting position, we want him to take over substantively or somebody is appointed immediately to take control of the university," explained the Global Chairman of the ATU Alumni Association, David Ayisala.
Mr Ayisala made the appeal at the first annual general meeting (AGM) of the ATU Alumni Association in Accra last Sunday, February 25.
The AGM was on the theme: "Enhancing the Accra Technical University brand: The role of the alumni".
Former Vice-Chancellor
He explained that the term of office of the former vice-chancellor ended last year May and for the past eight months, the university had been without a substantive vice-chancellor but rather an acting vice-chancellor; a role played by the pro-vice-chancellor.
Mr Ayisala said judging from the double roles the pro-vice chancellor was playing, the workload had become too much for him; hence, the need to either confirm him as the substantive vice-chancellor or have someone immediately appointed as the substantive vice-chancellor.
He, therefore, stressed the need for the university's Council to come together and form a search committee that would begin the process of identifying and getting a substantive vice-chancellor for the university.
This is barring the outcome of the court case before the university regarding the former vice-chancellor, who wanted to contest the position again though he had only two years to retire whereas the position is for four years.
Alumni plans
Touching on plans the alumni association has for the university, Mr Ayisala disclosed that it planned to collaborate with other agencies and the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the university to construct a hostel that could accommodate about 1,000 students at the second campus of the university at Mpehuasem.
The project, which he said they intended to start in August this year if they were able to mobilise funds, was intended to deal with the increasing student population of the university.
He, therefore, appealed to all past students and alumni of the university to come on board to make it a reality.
Other plans, he mentioned, included opening more chapters of the alumni at places such as the Graphic Communications Group Ltd, the Controller and Accountant General Department, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the Volta River Authority and the Electricity Company of Ghana.
Modified curricula
Speaking on the theme of the AGM, an alumnus of the university, who is also the General Manager of Kodson Plus Company Ltd, Dr Lawrence Yao Addo, stressed the need for universities to modify their course curricula to make them industry-focused so that the graduates they churned out would get easy employment.
"Industries like Coca-Cola, Unilever, and all the engineering institutions can bring a project request to the universities.
Can we have research into, for instance, the patching of potholes or causes of road accidents, etc? But this is not happening in our universities," he said.
He said when an alumnus became the leader of institutions, they would be able to change from just learning and getting certification and walking away.
The acting Vice-Chancellor of ATU, Professor Amevi Acakpovi, mentioned some of the strides achieved by the university, including the fact that it had grown in terms of the number of programmes it was running, and had also received administrative approval for nine master’s programmes, and also it was increasing the number of opportunities on campus by developing affiliations and collaborations with industries both locally and internationally.
