By
Afedzi Abdullah, GNA
Cape Coast, Feb. 23,
GNA – The Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU) will, from the next academic
year (2020/2021), introduce eleven new BTech programmes with the establishment
of six additional minor workshops aimed at providing hands-on training,
knowledge and skills to students.
This forms part of
restructuring the Academic Department to remain relevant and provide sufficient
diverse range of programmes to prospective students, the Vice Chancellor, Right
Reverend Professor Joshua Danso Owusu-Sekyere, has said.
The new programmes
in BTech include Mechanical Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Civil
Engineering, Construction, Automation, and Electrical and Electronic
Engineering.
The rest are Applied
Statistics, Hospitality Management, Industrial Accounting and Finance, Food and
Post-Harvest Technology and Renewable Energy.
Speaking at the
second congregation ceremony of the University at the weekend, the Vice
Chancellor indicated that efforts were being made to split the School of
Applied Sciences and Arts into two.
The purpose is to
carve the School of Built Environment from the School of Engineering in
pursuance of the new programmes.
A total of 882
graduands from the schools of Engineering, Applied Sciences and Art and
Business and Management were awarded degrees and diplomas.
Of the number, 188
received Bachelor of Technology degrees, 577 Higher National Diploma and 117
Diploma.
Rev. Prof
Owusu-Sekyere said to build on the niche area of the University, which was
Renewable Energy, a Renewable Energy Centre had been established to provide
services and training on the subject within and outside the University.
He said it had
signed a number of MoU’s with international and national universities as well
as industries with the intention of building the capacity of students and
staff.
One of such, he
said, was the collaboration between CCTU and the University of Applied Science,
Dusseldorf, Germany, which involved the mobility of staff and students from the
School of Engineering.
He added that the
Civil Engineering and Building Technology Department had registered a
construction company to carry out engineering consultancy, building and civil
engineering works, research and training in the built environment.
The Vice Chancellor
reminded the graduates to make their certificates relevant by using the
knowledge and skills acquired to impact lives, the society and the nation as a
whole.
Prof Kwesi Yankah,
the Minister of State in-Charge of Tertiary Education, in a speech read on his
behalf, reminded technical universities to stay focused on their core mandates.
He described the
University’s efforts to introduce new degree programmes as a step in the right
direction and assured of government’s continued support for the development of
Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes.
Prof. Yankah said
the concept of TVET, if adopted and embraced by all stakeholders, would be a
vehicle for economic development.
He admonished the
University to be ready for the expected huge numbers of the first batch of the
Free Senior High (SHS) graduates while assuring that Government would soon give
clearance for the recruitment of additional staff to augment staff strength to
deliver.
GNA