The Accra Technical University (ATU) yesterday unveiled a five-year strategic plan, spanning 2021-2025, at Kinbu, in Accra.
The plan is hinged on strategic pillars, including enhancing students experience, impact-oriented research and innovation, industry and community engagement and internationalism and visibility of the university.
Others are availability of appropriate infrastructure and systems, quality and motivated human resource and effective governance, finance and staff welfare and support.
A prototype of an ultra-modern ATU campus on a 125-acres land situated at Mpehuasem at Ga South was out-doored, under the appropriate infrastructure and systems plan.
The occasion was also used to launch ATU’s second summer school on the theme “strategically positioning ATU as the top technical university in Ghana, with strong regional influence,” which will be observed from October 11-15.
Deputy Education Minister, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, who performed the unveiling, emphasised government’s commitment to technical education and its commitment to attaining 40 per cent growth in tertiary enrollment ratio from the current 18 per cent by 2030.
He said the plan redirected ATU towards its primary mandate of providing top-notch technical education encompassing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and the area of research.
Rev. Fordjour said there was the need to develop 21st century skills that would be relied upon by industries and the global community.
He also expressed satisfaction that the plan would ultimately increase the enrollment of more women into STEM programmes.
He lauded ATU for the construction of a five-storey structure to absorb the large swath of free senior high school graduates.
Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Databank, Kojo Addae-Mensah, said even though ATU had made strides in infrastructure development and student intake, the number of students studying humanities outstripped students studying the technical subjects.
He however noted that the strategic plan would correct the anomaly.
Mr Addae-Mensah urged ATU to adopt innovative ways to develop the 125- acre land at Mpehuasem by entering into partnership with the private sector instead of waiting for government support.
He said the campus could be developed into a full commercial fee-paying campus with ultra-modern facilities and maintained through internally generated funds.
Mr Addae-Mensah urged the university to partner both local and internationally-acclaimed Technical Universities for mutual benefits and growth while exploiting new methods of teaching and learning, including virtual learning.
Vice-Chancellor of ATU, Prof. Samuel Nii Odai, said the strategic plan deepened ATU’s philosophy that education and training should develop the competencies and skills of students to ensure their relevance to industry and competitiveness on the job market.
BY BENEDICTA GYIMAAH FOLLEY
