GNUTS Engages National Accreditation Board (NAB) On Accreditation For Four Years Bachelor Of Technology (BTECH) Degree Program For The Technical Universities
On Wednesday, 3rd June 2020 the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Ghana National Union of Technical Students GNUTS, as part of it's mandate for stakeholder engagement with all statutory bodies responsible education in Ghana, paid a courtesy call on the Executive Secretary of the National Accreditation Board (NAB) Dr. Kingsley Nyarko to discuss matters relating to the running of the straight four year Bachelor of Technology (Btech) programs and accreditation for courses in the various technical universities.
Dr. Nyarko was very receptive and informed "the Union" that after the conversion of the then Polytechnics into Technical Universities in 2016, numerous activities has taken place till now and that granting accreditation for the Technical Universities to run a straight four years degree programs will take series of processes of which he made it clear that most of the technical universities are doing well to meet the requisite requirements for accreditations.
- Uniqueness and Relevance of Course: He made it clear that for accreditation to be given on a course, the curriculum must be uniquely carved and more emphasis placed on the technical nature and practicality of the course. For instance if a Technical University needs accreditation to run Btech Entrepreneurship as a course, the curriculum must have more technical and technology content and must not look like a traditional university curriculum module. The technical university education is unique and must be treated as such.
- Staff Audit: The Lecturers at the Technical Universities has to have certain requirements to be allowed to lecture on a degree course, the lecturers Masters or PhD degree must be a research degree and not a taught degree, which was in the case of some lecturers. He stated that some lecturers who were not having those requirements are working to redeem themselves in that regard. So until that is done they can’t give accreditation for Btech Degree courses.
- The Faculty: He stated that every course must have the requisite infrastructure and knowledge required to run it effectively, so another thing they consider before giving accreditation are the "brains" and infrastructure of the Institution that want to run the said degree program.
So Dr. Kingsley Nyarko made known that it won't be long accreditation will be given to the TUs to run straight four years Btech degrees.
GNUTS further asked for more clarification on the 'Niche Area' as stated in the proposed Public University Bill (PUB) of which the Union has submitted inputs to the Parliamentary select committee on education.
He explained that as it stands now all the TUs are running almost every course and has lost track on the main Act of Parliament on which the polytechnics now Technical Universities were established. So for the TUs to be able to work within that mandate, there must be a niche area for the Technical Universities. He set example of Takoradi Technical University that they are close to where Ghana drills crude oil and it will be best if Takoradi is able to have a niche area in oil and gas rather than University of Ghana or any other Technical University.
He further explained that in the case where government want to support oil and gas infrastructure in the Technical Universities or any institution of higher learning in Ghana it will be appropriate to support Takoradi Technical University and also if any student wants to study oil and gas Takoradi Technical University becomes the best option.
The meeting ended successfully and he stated that his doors are always opened and ready to engage the Union at any time.
Signed:
Forster SEMABIA
GNUTS Public and International Relations Officer.