University students have been admonished to take advantage of the various opportunities being offered them to enhance their knowledge and acquire skills to become assets to the nation.

“The future of this nation hangs squarely on your shoulders. The expectation of the nation of you is very high and we hope you will realise this,” The Vice Chancellor of the Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU), Reverend Professor Joshua Danso Owusu-Sekyere told freshly admitted student.

He said they were being admitted into the technical university at a time when the country was placing much premium on Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) and that they must work hard to justify that decision.

Prof Owusu-Sekyere gave the admonition at the fifth matriculation ceremony since the conversion of the institution into a university.

A total of 1,619 fresh students including 785 females were matriculated to pursue various programmes for the 2020/2021 academic year.

They are made up of 694 Higher National Diploma (HND), 506 Diploma and 429 B-Tech students who would pursue programmes in engineering, applied sciences, arts and business, leading to the award of higher diploma certificates.

Prof Owusu-Sekyere encouraged the students to take their studies serious, be time conscious, be extremely cautious of their choices and consequent actions and work towards achieving academic excellence.

He said the University remained focused in churning out students who were innovative, entrepreneurial in outlook, goal oriented, critical thinkers and adequately equipped to provide solutions to local, national and global challenges.

He said CCTU would continue to take relevant actions to develop a niche area of Renewable Energy and ensure that it became the centre of excellence in renewable energy in Ghana and beyond.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University had introduced an online learning management system to avoid having large numbers of students in lecture halls.

The Vice Chancellor assured that management was making frantic efforts to solve the accommodation problems on campus as it acknowledged that the existing hostel was not enough to accommodate the increasing number of students.