A total of 1,381 students have graduated from the Sunyani Technical University (STU), with Higher National Diploma and Non-tertiary certificates.

Comprising 852 males and 529 females, the graduates were enrolled in the 2019/2020 academic year, and pursued programmes in Engineering, TVET, Applied Science and Technology, Applied Arts and Business and Management disciplines.

In terms of distribution according to Classes, 117 of them obtained First Class, 703, Second Class Upper, 522, Second Class Lower with 39 obtaining Pass.

Addressing the 13th congregation ceremony (virtual) of the University in Sunyani, Professor Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, the Vice-Chancellor of the STU, indicated 800 of the graduates were Engineering, Science and Technology, TVET and Applied Science and Technology students, while 581 of them pursued business programmes.

He explained the university had mounted seven new four-year Bachelor of Technology programmes which were accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) in 2020, adding 514 first-year students had already enrolled on the programmes.

Prof Adinkrah-Appiah added management was working seriously to obtain accreditation for six other programmes, which were aligned with the university’s Niche Area being Electrical and Electronics Engineering, to be introduced in the next academic year.

The university, he explained was still pursuing its staff development programmes saying currently more than 40 staff were being sponsored to obtain higher degrees, especially terminal degrees (PhD), through Internally Generated Fund (IGF) and GETFUND staff development allocations in both local and foreign institutions.

Prof Adinkrah-Appiah said the university had paid a total sum of GHC150,000 from its IGF as fees to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on behalf of staff who were being sponsored to pursue PhD programmes in Engineering and other areas.

Other new applications for sponsorship are at various stages of consideration by the Staff Development and Scholarship Committee, he added.

The Vice-Chancellor appealed to the government to as a matter of urgency connect all Technical Universities in the country to the ‘Free ECG Wi-Fi’ internet project which had already been extended to some public universities.

This would enable students and staff of the Technical Universities to effectively carry out teaching and learning in the era of the COVID-19.

Engineer Dr Kwame A. Boakye, the Chairman of the STU Council, stressed that Ghana’s aspiration to become an upper-middle-income country could not be realized without integrating Science, Technology, Engineering and Innovation into national development strategies.

“To achieve national objectives for poverty reduction, the competitiveness of the enterprise, sustainable environmental management and industrial growth and Ghana Beyond Aid, the Technical Universities must be made an indispensable part of the endeavour”, he added.