By Dennis Pepra
Sunyani, Nov. 07, GNA – Professor Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Sunyani Technical University has commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his vision in transforming Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET).
He observed the nation’s Technical and Vocational Institutes and the Technical Universities had experienced critical reforms and retooling on a massive scale, under President Akufo-Addo’s administration which needed to be applauded.
Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah gave the commendation when he addressed a grand durbar in Sunyani to climax the 55th anniversary celebration of the University on the theme “STU, 55 Years of Progress and Achievement in TVET Education: Mobilizing Excellence for Leadership in Ghana’s Industrialization Agenda”.
The VC also paid glowing tribute to successive governments whose visionary leaderships helped to upgrade the institution from a technical institute to university and called for collaborative efforts towards successful implementation of the university’s five-year strategic plan and the 40-year overall plan.
Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah said both plans remained a new blueprint for the institution’s development, saying it was upon this and a few reasons that was why the university community launched the STU endowment fund in April this year to mobilize GhC300 million.
He said the major challenge of the university was the deplorable condition of access roads, and appealed to the government to provide an asphaltic overlay on the four-kilometre long campus roads.
This would reduce dusty and muddy conditions the students and staff suffer seasonally, he added, and appealed for the construction of a pedestrian footbridge across the Sunyani-Kumasi highway in front of the university to save students from the frequent knockdowns.
Dr. Kwame A. Boakye, the Chairman of the STU Council, explained the university continued to carve a niche for itself in the training of human resources, especially in the areas of engineering, technology, technical and vocational needs of the country and appealed to all to contribute to the university’s endowment fund to facilitate its speedy growth.
The STU started as the Sunyani Technical Institute (SUTECH) in 1967 to offer opportunity for Middle School leavers to undergo hands-on training in craft programmes including intermediate block-laying and concreting, carpentry and joinery, electrical installation, and auto mechanics.
It was turned to polytechnic in 1997 and was converted to the STU in 2016 with a new mandate to provide higher education and awarding its own degrees, diplomas, and other certificates.
The University undertakes courses in engineering, science, and technology disciplines, TVET as well as Applied Arts and related disciplines, as enshrined in the Technical Universities Act 2016 (ACT 922 as amended).
GNA