The Sunyani Technical University (STU) has held its 17th congregation, conferring certificates on 1,012 graduates for the 2023/2024 academic year.
The graduates pursued Master of Technology (MTech), Higher National Diploma (HND), and Diploma certificates in Engineering, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Applied Science and Technology, Built Environment and Applied Arts and Business and Management Studies.
They included 11 graduates of MTech, representing 1.10 percent, with 1,001 representing 98.9 percent receiving HND and Diploma certificates at the event held in Sunyani on the theme: “Employability and Job Creation: Leveraging Technical and Entrepreneurial Skills Training.”
Professor Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the STU, noted that mismatch between academic training and industry demands, limited employment opportunities in traditional sectors, and a weak entrepreneurial culture among Ghanaian youth, remained key challenges contributing to the graduate unemployment rate in the country.
He said: “The true purpose of education is to empower students with the required knowledge and skills necessary for future work. “Technical and vocational training, integrated with entrepreneurial development remain the most effective approach to building employability and promoting enterprise.”
Prof Adinkrah-Appiah said the STU adopted the “Education 5.0” model, an innovative framework that went beyond theoretical learning encompassing research, problem-solving, innovation, and commercialization of ideas, which prepare students not only to contribute meaningfully to their communities but also to become entrepreneurs and job creators.
Prof Adinkrah-Appiah said the STU was facing pressing infrastructural challenges, and called for stakeholders’ support to tackle encroachment on its institutional land behind the GETFund Hostel.
He said the university required additional halls and hostel facilities for the growing student’s population, calling for the reshaping of the poor internal road networks on campus as well as the upgrade of the university’s six-kilometer road networks, including the ‘Waterloo section’ with asphalt overlay.
The VC also appealed to the government to complete the Phase II of the GETFund Science Park Project, as well as the construction of the 1,200-bed capacity hostel to meet the housing needs of the students.
Mr Joseph Addae Akwaboa, the Bono Regional Minister, called for a paradigm shift from “educational system predominantly certificate-based system to one that prioritizes practical skills development, innovation, and entrepreneurial capacity.”
He said: “In today’s economic landscape, it is imperative that our young people are equipped not only with academic credentials but with the mindset and competencies to solve problems, create businesses, and drive progress.”
Mr Akwaboa urged the graduates to focus on enterprise creation as they transitioned from academic life into the world of work.
Mr Abednego Direbo Kwabena Ertane of the Department of Business and Management, emerged as the valedictorian with other outstanding students recognized and awarded for their exceptional academic achievements.