GHANA

Technical universities to drive socio-economic growth

The Ghanaian government’s policy of converting polytechnics into technical universities will take off in September 2016, to help reposition them as strategic institutions for training highly-skilled human resource to drive socio-economic development, reports VibeGhana.

Dr George Afeti, former secretary general of the Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa and former rector of Ho Polytechnic, said government would soon place before parliament a bill on the conversion of polytechnics into technical universities to give legal backing to the take-off.

He said converted polytechnics are not to become ‘traditional’ universities with similar mandates or duplicate the courses and programmes that universities are offering. Upgraded polytechnics would be required to remain focused on their core function of training technicians and technologists at a higher level to meet the exigencies of the rapidly changing, technology-driven work environment.
Full report on the VibeGhana site