Ghana’s Polytechnic education may collapse – UK Prof warns

General News of Sunday, 11 January 2015

Source: Starrfmonline.com

Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa Morose

Ghana’s Polytechnic education system may collapse if attempts to convert them into Universities are not managed properly, a Professor with the Commonwealth Studies at the University of London has warned.

Next year, the government will start implementing a series of strategies intended to turn polytechnics into Universities.

It is believed the conversion will help to re-brand technical education, deepen its relevance and give it the necessary support and attention for the country’s development.

A technical committee working on the conversion recently outdoored it report.

However, Ghanaian academic Professor, Joseph Atsu Ayee has cautioned the government against any hasty conversion of the country’s polytechnics into universities.

According to the Professor, who teaches Commonwealth Studies at the University of London, government must tread cautiously.

“Polytechnic education is different from traditional university education so the curriculum must be different…that is why the polytechnics in the UK and South Africa have failed,” Professor Atsu Ayee told Starr FM’s Ibrahim Alhassan.

He added “I would say that we must pilot, maybe select a few polytechnics, pilot them before we implement. I think that we should not rush into this, I would say it should take us a 10 year period to implement this”.