Asantehene Calls For Dialogue On Funding Higher Education

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has advocated a national dialogue that will address the nagging issue of sustainable funding for higher education.

The public universities, he noted, were at the cross-roads, adding, “The time is opportune for us as a nation to begin the process of dialogue, of assembling together in a non-partisan, open-minded and all-hands-on-deck mood to critically address the issue of mechanisms for sustainable funding for higher education.”

Otumfuo Osei Tutu, who was speaking at the 45th congregation of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi Monday, said Ghana could not always look elsewhere for answers to challenges facing tertiary education.

“So what is our choice as a nation?” he asked, and went on to provide the answer, “The choice is ours.”

In all, 775 students from the colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Architecture and Planning graduated in the first of the expanded graduation ceremonies, with 50 of them obtaining First Class honours.

The Asantehene, who is also the Chancellor of KNUST, stated that higher education was the engine of growth for nations that sought to advance in the world of science and technology.

“Be that as it may, access and means to higher education is a matter that should engage the attention of stakeholders in education,” he noted.

With this year marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of KNUST, Otumfuo Osei Tutu admonished all who had a role to play in the advancement of the university to help tell the success story of the institution.

In his address, the Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Prof William Otoo Ellis, said the university had completed the handing over process of its campus in Sunyani to serve as the nucleus of the University of Energy and Natural Resources.

“So come next academic year, the Faculty of Forest Resources Technology (Sunyani Campus of KNUST) will become the University of Energy and Natural Resources.

“What this means is that once again KNUST will be mentoring another university similar to the University of Mines and Energy in Tarkwa and we are proud to play our parenting role very well,” he said.

The vice-chancellor said KNUST had placed premium on private sector partnership to develop its resources.

He mentioned, for instance, that a construction firm, Trasacco Limited, had selected five final-year undergraduate students from the Department of Architecture to work in the company’s design offices and construction sites.

One of the students — a female — was awarded scholarship for her postgraduate programme and the opportunity to work with the company on completion of her programme of study.

Prof Ellis also disclosed that the Centre for Land Studies and KNUST had developed concerted and systematic research towards the introduction of land title registration in Ghana.

Besides, the centre, in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and USAID, had conducted research into land desertification in north-eastern Ghana, with the view to helping halt the invasion of the Sahara into northern Ghana.

He said to be able to cope with the increasing demand for admission to the university, infrastructure was being expanded in the colleges.

Prof Ellis urged the graduates to go out and work to better the lives of the needy in society.

Present was the Chairman of the KNUST Council, Mr P.V. Obeng.