It will also help provide solutions to the country’s energy problems.

The centre, which will explore the potential in renewable energy, will host the Bachelor of Technology programme and ultimately the School of Renewable Energy to complement the assignment of the centre.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Joshua Danso Owusu-Sekyere, was speaking at the graduation ceremony of the university last weekend.

A total of 882 graduands including 188 Bachelor of Technology, 577 Higher National Diploma and 117 Diploma students at the weekend graduated from the Cape Coast Technical University.

The CCTU’s niche area is renewable energy and the university is expected to explore the area and provide adequate solution to the nation’s energy problems.

Prof. Owusu-Sekyere said the management of the university had challenged the 12 academic departments to develop curricula for the four B-Tech programmes.

New programmes

He said the departments had responded positively and developed programmes which were to be in the 2020/2021 academic year.

The new programmes include BTech Mechanical Engineering, BTech Agricultural Engineering, BTech Civil Engineering, BTech Construction Engineering, BTech Automation Engineering, BTech Electrical and BTech Electronic Engineering.

Others are BTech Applied Statistics, BTech Hospitality Management, BTech Industrial Accounting and Finance and BTech Food and Post-Harvest Technology.

He said it was expected that the new programmes would help train more qualified manpower for the nation's development.

Infrastructure development

Prof. Owusu-Sekyere said a 3,000-capacity auditorium which would include offices and other facilities, a market complex, a mechanical engineering block and a block of workshops had been initiated.

The Chairman of the university’s Governing Council, Prof. Harold Amoono-Kuofi, urged the graduands not to be enticed by the love of money to engage in mischief, but to live lives worthy of emulation.

Support

He appealed for financial clearance to recruit additional teaching and non-teaching staff and more hostel facilities to help accommodate students living outside the university campus.

Prof. Amoono-Kuofi added that other projects requiring urgent attention included the completion of an auditorium, acquisition of vehicles and the need to expedite the approval for the running of four-year degree programmes to enable the university to compete with the traditional ones.