The Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU) will, from the next academic year (2020/2021), introduce eleven new BTech programmes with the establishment of six additional minor workshops aimed at providing hands-on training, knowledge and skills to students.
This forms part of restructuring the Academic Department to remain relevant and provide sufficient diverse range of programmes to prospective students, the Vice Chancellor, Right Reverend Professor Joshua Danso Owusu-Sekyere, has said.
The new programmes in BTech include Mechanical Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Construction, Automation, and Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
The rest are Applied Statistics, Hospitality Management, Industrial Accounting and Finance, Food and Post-Harvest Technology and Renewable Energy.
Speaking at the second congregation ceremony of the University at the weekend, the Vice Chancellor indicated that efforts were being made to split the School of Applied Sciences and Arts into two.
The purpose is to carve the School of Built Environment from the School of Engineering in pursuance of the new programmes.
A total of 882 graduands from the schools of Engineering, Applied Sciences and Art and Business and Management were awarded degrees and diplomas.
Of the number, 188 received Bachelor of Technology degrees, 577 Higher National Diploma and 117 Diploma.
Rev. Prof Owusu-Sekyere said to build on the niche area of the University, which was Renewable Energy, a Renewable Energy Centre had been established to provide services and training on the subject within and outside the University.
He said it had signed a number of MoU’s with international and national universities as well as industries with the intention of building the capacity of students and staff.
One of such, he said, was the collaboration between CCTU and the University of Applied Science, Dusseldorf, Germany, which involved the mobility of staff and students from the School of Engineering.
He added that the Civil Engineering and Building Technology Department had registered a construction company to carry out engineering consultancy, building and civil engineering works, research and training in the built environment.
The Vice Chancellor reminded the graduates to make their certificates relevant by using the knowledge and skills acquired to impact lives, the society and the nation as a whole.
The Minister of State in-Charge of Tertiary Education Prof Kwesi Yankah, in a speech read on his behalf, reminded technical universities to stay focused on their core mandates.
He described the University’s efforts to introduce new degree programmes as a step in the right direction and assured of government’s continued support for the development of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes.
Prof. Yankah said the concept of TVET, if adopted and embraced by all stakeholders, would be a vehicle for economic development.
He admonished the University to be ready for the expected huge numbers of the first batch of the Free Senior High (SHS) graduates while assuring that Government would soon give clearance for the recruitment of additional staff to augment staff strength to deliver.
