A high-powered delegation from the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU), led by its Vice-Chancellor, Ing. Prof. Nana Osei-Wusu Achaw, has paid a courtesy call on the Vice-Chancellor of the Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED), Prof. Frederick Kwaku Sarfo, to explore the possibility of establishing a mutually-beneficial partnership with AAMUSTED.
As indicated by Ing. Prof. Nana Achaw, the KsTU highly recognises the vast experience that AAMUSTED has in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Therefore, he said the KsTU would want to tap into it to improve its operations, hinting, particularly, about the KsTU’s desire for its lecturers to undergo training in andragogy and pedagogy at AAMUSTED. He said KsTU also has various facilities that could benefit AAMUSTED greatly.
to be able to tap into the rich experience of AAMUSTED to improve on its operations and structures. He also outlined some opportunities AAMUSTED stood to gain in the partnership.
Ing. Prof. Nana Achaw described the visit to AAMUSTED as historic since no such visit had ever happened between the two universities, even though they were just a few kilometers apart. He called on both parties to commit themselves to every effort necessary to solidify the relationship for the advancement of their institutions and the nation.
He minced no words in expressing appreciation on behalf of the other members of the delegation for the warm reception the AAMUSTED Management extended to them and again described the visit as a learning experience for him.
The other members of the KsTU delegation on the February 28, 2023 visit were Prof. Gabriel Dwomoh, Pro Vice-Chancellor; Mr. Ebenezer Kofi Boakye, Registrar; Mr. James Osei Brobbey, Director of Finance; Prof. Sarfo Mensah, Director of International Affairs and Institutional Linkages, Ms. Joyce Adu-Amoah, Secretary to the Vice-Chancellor, and Ms. Linda Okyere of the University Relations Office.
The Vice-Chancellor of AAMUSTED, in the company of some of his Management Members, welcomed the KsTU delegation. He assured the KsTU of the readiness of AAMUSTED to partner with it to fulfill its mandate.
He narrated the history of AAMUSTED, tracing back to the 1960s when the University was only a Technical Training Center which metamorphosed into Advanced Technical Teachers Training College. Later it became a Campus for the University of Education Winneba to buttress the acclaimed TVET experience that abounds in AAMUSTED.
He touched on the mandates of AAMUSTED and explained that each of them was relevant to the development of KsTU, and therefore to go into a partnership was the right thing to do. “There are so many areas we can collaborate to promote quality TVET in Ghana,” Prof. Sarfo stressed.
According to Prof. Sarfo, AAMUSTED has many upcoming innovations which could become fertile grounds for its collaboration with the KsTU. He told the KsTU team that to ensure its proper take-off, AAMUSTED committed itself to undertake a Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) to identify and meet the actual needs of industry and society. The outcome of the CNA, he said, was informing a review of existing programmes and the crafting new ones to keep AAMUSTED competitive and make its graduates relevant to industry and society.
“It is important for us to identify the best way to collaborate so we can contribute meaningfully to the golden dream of the government to capitalise on TVET to industrialise the country and fight the unemployment scourge plaguing her,” he suggested.
The Registrar of AAMUSTED, Mr. Augustus Kwaw Brew, called on the two universities to formalise the relationship with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to provide an impetus for them to grow faster.
Also present from the AAMUSTED side were the Acting Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Stephen Jobson Mitchual; Dr. Jeff Boakye Danquah, Director of Finance; and Mr. Michael K. Twum-Ampomah, Acting Director of University Relations.