A fortnight
ago, specifically on November 18, 2017, the ‘Tamale Technical University’
(TaTU) held its 11th congregation which saw some one thousand, six
hundred and ninety-four students successfully graduating with different
honours.
Congregations or graduation ceremonies are very important
occasions of every tertiary educational institution especially universities.
Such activities provide opportunity for faculty and students to meet once again
to reflect on their stay on campus over the years particularly prior to the
exit of the latter from the university after taking their final exam. Most
importantly, it is a period of recognizing hard work and academic excellence
after years of studies.
School mates and classmates who have lost contact with
one another after leaving campus few weeks or months get to reconnect once
again and fraternize. It is a moment for some to showcase their best fashion
sense ranging from hairstyle to the latest dresses and shoes or high heels.
One of the highpoints of a university’s congregation
is showcasing its official colours. In any serious university, congregations
and matriculations (a ceremony to
officially induct fresh students into a university after they have gained
admission) are a serious business, and efforts are made to ensure that
every graduate or student wears the university’s graduation or matriculation
robe.
Sadly, when the TaTU held its 11th
congregation, what many people including myself did not want to see, they saw.
About 80% to 90% of graduating students wore colours (robes) that belong to the
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Honestly speaking,
that was an acceptable abnormally that should never have happened considering
the significance of the occasion. And the Management of TaTU should bow their
heads in shame for continuously allowing these kinds of mistakes to taint the external
image of the institution.
I have been around for a long time, and have witnessed
many congregations of TaTU since 2006 thereabout till date when it held its
maiden congregation. Over the years, the University has relied on the
University for Development Studies (UDS) for its robes during congregations and
matriculations. But November 18th was an exception, because the UDS was
also holding its 18th congregation on the same day as TaTU and management
of TaTU had no option than to hire the robes of KNUST.
It is an insult to the competence, credibility and
reputation of TaTU as well as lecturers of the Department of Fashion and
Design. Why should a technical university that runs an HND and certificate
programmes in Fashion and Design find it necessary and reasonable to go and
hire robes for congregations and matriculations? This is an institution that is
supposed to be training manpower that is equipped with the required skills
innovations or inventions. It beats the imagination of every right thinking
person to ask why management of the university will think that hiring robes for
congregation is not a problem at tall.
As a university that teaches fashion and design, this
gives it a competitive advantage over other tertiary institutions in the region.
This is where and how students in the Department of Fashion and Design can be resourced
so that they can sew robes for the university’s congregations and
matriculations as well as other schools that may be interested in buying robes
for similar activities.
In the same vain, it is safe to say that management of
the university should cease awarding certain contracts involving building and
construction works to private contractors when its building technology
department has the technical competence to execute such jobs. For instance, construction
works such as painting, welding or fabrication of windows/doors, burglar
proofs, building of toilet/urinary facilities, lecture halls and office
furniture and among others should be done by students and lecturers of the
university.
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| Vice Chancellor, TaTU, Prof. A. S. Asuro |
This action, if taken by management of the university,
would save them a lot of money for other projects it wants to implement. They
can make the university self-sufficient like GIMPA if they use their skilled students
to provide services needed by other schools and business establishments in
Tamale.
Personally, I think that TaTU can use its students to
do all the aforementioned as part of their practical training under the
supervision of their lecturers. However, management and lecturers should pay students
some form of allowances whenever they are engaged in such activities aside the
fact that they will be assessed by their lecturers for the award of marks for
good performance.
Lest the management of TaTU has forgotten what the
representative of Ghana’s Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education,
Professor Kwesi Yankah, said at the 11th congregation as guest
speaker.
He urged technical universities in the country to
stick to their mandate of providing purely technical education that is capable
of solving the problem of unemployment in the country.
He said as a country, Ghana needs more technically
trained graduates who are skilled, possess the right balance of theory and
practice and are capable of delivering hands on technical know-how with little
supervision like the one envisaged in the Technical University Act.
“We need more people educated in technical, vocational
and professional skills and less in general knowledge. That way, we will be
producing skill sets aligned to the needs of the country”, he said.
Mr. Vice Chancellor of TaTU, the needs of this country
which the distinguished Professor Kwesi Yankah spoke about include the needs of
your university which is still struggling to gain a full university status
because of its inability to meet certain requirements at the time of
conversion.
Perhaps, taking the lead in the area of simple
innovations and inventions like I suggested above would earn TaTU a good name in
the Hall of Fame of Technical Universities in Ghana and globally.
Hiring robes in this 21st century for very
important programmes such as congregations and matriculations usually organized
by TaTU is unreasonable to say the least. TaTU can do better by showing the way
for others to follow.
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