The Accra Polytechnic has launched its maiden edition of the APT Journal of Multidisciplinary Research as part of efforts to rebrand itself towards the conversion into a technical university.

The journal is an academic and peer-reviewed journal which would be published bi-annually by the school.

The journal, which is published both online and in hard copy, seeks to provide a platform for academia and researchers as well as practitioners in non-academic institutions to place their knowledge and findings in the public domain.

“This journal is very important, especially in the light of our conversion into technical university,” Professor Sylvester Achio, the Rector of Accra Polytechnic, said at the launch in Accra.

“Research and practical work have been the backbone of the success the Polytechnic has witnessed over the years, however, we are now under more intense pressure to work harder in the Research Department and be able to publish our work to contribute to development and solving of various challenges on the globe,” he said.

Prof Achio said: “This bi-annual journal is international in nature and is unique by curving our niche and portraying our identity. Its exhibits our innovative, creative and hands-on practical oriented approaches to identifying and finding solutions to challenges within various communities.

“The pictorial inscription on the cover page signifies the multidisciplinary, the leading and visionary role the journal portrays and can be offered globally”.

The scope of the journal is multidisciplinary, covering studies in the applied sciences, engineering and technology, social sciences and management.

Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Deputy Minister of Education, lauded Accra Polytechnic for coming out with the innovation which would go a long way to enhance academic performance.

He said the launch of the journal was evidence which showed that the nation’s polytechnics, especially those six which had been cleared for the technical university take-off, were ready for the task.

He said the technical universities conversion idea was an idea whose time had come and nothing could stop.

Prof Edmund Ameko, the Vice Rector, Accra Polytechnic, who gave an overview of the journal, acknowledged the great work done by the former Head of the Research and Innovation Centre of the school, Mr Felix Kutsanedzie for his passion, drive, and ingenuity which led to the establishment of the journal.

“The journal we are launching today is for a community of researchers and practitioners who are clever, quick, bright, sharp, smart and intelligent to identify relevant problems,” he said.