He said gone were the days when employers recruited workers based on their certification and the schools or universities they attended.

Now, he said, those certificates and names did not matter as employers were looking for workers who would add value to their company.

He, therefore, advised graduates going into the job market to have some added skills that would set them apart from the rest.

Importance

Mr Antwi-Boasiako made the call when he delivered a message on behalf of the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, at the 20th Congregation of the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU).

He said the objective of the establishment of the technical universities was to equip their products with the necessary skills relevant to the job market and also imbue them with entrepreneurial skills.

Addressing the graduands, the Deputy Director-General of CTVET urged them not to be afraid to think outside the box and to be prepared to explore the world.

Statistics

In all, a total of 3,212 students graduated with Master of Technology (M Tech), Bachelor of Technology (BTech) degrees and High National Diploma (HND) and Diploma Certificates in various programmes.

Addressing the congregation, the Vice-Chancellor of KsTU, Prof. Gabriel Dwomoh, said out of the total number of graduands, 843 pursued non-tertiary diploma programmes, while 1,413 offered Higher National Diploma (HND) programmes, while 947 offered BTech programme.

“Furthermore, 10 MTch students have successfully brought their studies to an end.

They are from the Chemicals, Civil Building Technology and the Statistical Sciences departments of the University,” he said.

Programmes

Prof. Dwomoh said KsTU currently run 21 postgraduate programmes, 30 bachelor programmes and 23 HND, as well as 33 other diploma programmes.

From a teaching staff of 194 in 2010 with only six of them having a PhD, he said “Today, KsTU can boast of 290 lecturers out of which 105 are senior lecturers, 30 Associate Professors and two full professors.”

Challenges

This notwithstanding, the VC said there were several challenges facing the university and the “first among them is the insufficient staff to run the university”.

“On the average, the staff-to-student ratio stands at 1:40, which is contrary to the GTEC norm of 1:18 for Engineering programmes and other programmes in Health Sciences, 1:12 or 1:15,” he said.

The other challenge, according to him, was the non-release of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) allocation.

He said KsTU was yet to receive more than GH¢10 million from GETFund for the pre-financing of the construction of the Faculty of Creative Arts and Technology (FACT) Project, which was approved by the government in 2020.

“I would, therefore, like to make a passionate appeal to the government not only to grant clearance to engage staff to improve on our staffing situation but also facilitate the timely release of the funds from GETFund to complete the FACT Project,” he pleaded.