The Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED), in partnership with STEMpower Incorporated, an international non-profit organisation, has inaugurated a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and Innovation Laboratory (STEMIL), in the University. The Laboratory, among others, aims to support the Ghana Government’s policy to strengthen Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)/STEM education to promote industrialization, foster job creation, and drive growth of the country.

The US$20,000.00-valued Laboratory is designed in two distinct sections: a Computer Laboratory equipped for simulation and allows students to run virtual experiments, model real-world scenarios, develop software and programming skills, explore data analysis, and visualisation, etc. The other section is an Electronics Laboratory for developing electronic gadgets, including robotics, circuit design and prototyping, microcontroller programming, and embedded systems development.

 

The University has especially incorporated robotics into its TVET/STEM education programmes to equip students with practical skills in robotics, programming, and engineering, as well as the understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI) concepts, applications, and development to investigate and engineer practical solutions to real-world problems. It also aims to prepare students to adapt to emerging technologies shaping the future, gain a competitive advantage in the job market, and possess skills in high demand after graduation.

 

The AAMUSTED-STEMpower Incorporated STEMIL has also positioned the University as an important next step for all the basic and secondary school students pursuing STEM education in Ghana, as the University strives to play a role in the government’s efforts to ride on the backs of TVET/STEM education to industrialise the country, engender job creation, and reduce unemployment.

Addressing the brief inauguration ceremony on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor of AAMUSTED, Prof. Frederick Kwaku Sarfo, on July 25, 2024, the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Boateng, said AAMUSTED would come in handy for all the trainees and graduates from the STEM programmes once they decided to pursue those programmes at the tertiary level.

The Vice-Chancellor said AAMUSTED was already exploring collaboration with some of the STEM Model Senior High Schools intending to avail the University’s expertise and facilities to boost the training at the SHS level.

“We are also looking at opening up to individuals and groups, especially children in the community around us, to come and take advantage of the STEMIL to learn, nurse, and develop their robotic ideas to help fashion solutions to national problems,” the Vice-Chancellor added.

 

In like manner, Prof. Sarfo said the University would soon complete the construction of an Entrepreneurship and Business Incubation Centre to energise, empower, direct, and support business creation, invention, and innovation among students and nurse business ideas towards new startups to boost job creation in the country, as  AAMUSTED commits itself to work hard, explore avenues, and pursue interests that support the government’s agenda on A/TVET and STEM for the desired industrialisation and development of the country.

The Vice-Chancellor was grateful to STEMpower Incorporated for donating the equipment and sending experts from Ethiopia to AAMUSTED to facilitate the setting up of STEMIL.

 

He acknowledged the important work STEMpower Incorporated was doing in establishing about 125 networked STEM Laboratories in various African countries, with AAMUSTED being the first in Ghana.

He also assured the benefactor that AAMUSTED would maximise the STEMIL to support the development of talents to boost innovations and creativity in Ghana adding that the University would ensure a high degree of maintenance of the facilities to attract maximum benefit to the nation.

Mr. Yohannes Bogale Fentie, Information Technology Engineer, and Mr. Eyob Aychen Teferra, Electronics Engineer, detailed from Ethiopia by STEMpower Incorporated to facilitate the setting-up of the STEMIL in AAMUSTED, expressed happiness that the University had embraced its TVET/STEM mandate and was taking steps to empower students with practical skills and innovative thinking in line with the country’s development goals.

 

Mr. Fentie especially expressed the hope that the AAMUSTED-STEMPower STEMIL would become an avenue for innovations to solve societal problems soon and contribute to Ghana’s economic growth.

The Head of the Centre for Artisanal Skills Training and Development (CASTD) in AAMUSTED, Dr. Albert Awopone, extended praise to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sarfo, for the direction he was taking the University.

He said there could not be a better time for the University to venture into such important areas of education, and thus, urged the University to continue pushing forward, exploring new frontiers, and expanding its reach in TVET/STEM education and innovation.

 

Also present at the ceremony were Dr. Christopher Owusu-Ansah, University Librarian; Prof. Humphrey Danso, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies; Prof. Yarhands Dissou Arthur, Dean of Faculty of Applied Science and Mathematics Education (FASME); Mr. Michael Kofi Twum-Ampofo, Ag. Director of Public Affairs; Prof. Francis Ohene Boateng, Director of Quality Assurance, Planning and Accreditation (QAPA); Rev. Prof. Joseph Mbawunie, and the Head of Department for Information Technology Education, Mr. William Asiedu.

STEMpower Incorporated with offices in the U.S., Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Rwanda fosters hands-on STEM education that emphasises creativity and skill-building, empowering the youth to proffer local solutions to societal problems. In addition to the 125 STEM Centers it has established across Sub-Sahara Africa, the organisation plans to establish about 50 more STEM Centers before the end of 2025.