Professor Frank John Eshun, Vice Chancellor of the Takoradi Technical University has indicated that Ghana needs an education system capable of producing people whose contribution would drive new innovative businesses, services and products.

“Contemporary technical education must therefore go beyond delivery of excellence in technical disciplines but a robust education systems with strong focus on vocational and technical skills which are vital pillars to support economic development”, he added.

The Vice Chancellor said this at the graduation ceremony for 15 gradaunds which formed the first batch of “Getenergy Field Ready” training programme being run by the University.

The Getenergy Field Ready programme was initiated after the jubilee partners officially handed the Jubilee Technical Training Centre to the management of the University.

Professor Eshun said the school was committed to producing competent and world class human resource for the strategic development of industry in enhancing national and global development.

The Getenergy Field Ready programme is an eight month industry support job preparation training to equip trainees with specific skills, knowledge and provide them access to employment opportunities. The course is run by the school in collaboration with some selected companies.

The Vice Chancellor said the programmes run by the JTTC was very crucial to the Oil and Gas as well as other energy related sectors and urged corporate institutions to collaborate and support the operations of the Centre in order to train a lot more Ghanaians for the extractive industry.

Mr Phil Andrews, a representative of Getenergy stressed the need for more collaboration with academia and industries to produce the right kind of skills for the job market.

He said the Takoradi Technical University has been given a Ten-year license to operate the Field Ready Programme.

Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Western Regional Minister applauded management of the school for putting up the programme which compliments the effort of the government to increase local participation in the oil and gas sector.

“As an institution you have committed to making government policies and agenda come into reality by training Ghanaians to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in the oil and gas sector”, he added.

Dr Afriyie said the government was leaving no stone unturned in raking in the full benefits of the oil discovery adding, “government is committed to resourcing our educational institutions to fully participate in the training of well-educated citizens with the requisite technical expertise to make Ghana an industrial hub in the commity of nations.