Kumasi, July 30, GNA – The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Design and Technology Institute (DTI), to engage students and improve its competency-based learning.
The agreement will provide the University’s faculties with accredited Precision Quality (PQ) curriculum and also integrate the PQ curriculum into KNUST’s learning outcomes.
Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, KNUST, at the signing ceremony in Kumasi, indicated that although the University was performing well in some of the sustainable development indicators there were some lapses in entrepreneurships, adding that, it appeared students were not fit for purpose.
“When it comes to putting students to test and weighing the skill when they leave school, something is gone amiss”.
“We as an institution, are working closely with the Tertiary Education Commission to review the curriculum,” he disclosed, adding that the move could grant students a lot of entrepreneurship training.
Prof. Owusu-Dabo mentioned that the University had also set up the Students’ Internship Placement and Career Development Centers to bridge the gap between certification and practical skills acquisition to ensure that students acquired the requisite skills before completing school.
He was positive that the partnership with DTI would grant additional skills acquisition.
The Pro-VC envisaged that such collaborations could be a potential for facilitating job placement after school factoring the skills students would acquire during internships and field studies.
“It is a model of quality incubator and demonstration, the partnership will add up to the existing similar modules in the University to be able to stem the tide of the increasing unemployment,” he observed.
He said the ramifications of quality education should spiral into the economy through the demonstration of the skills of the students they churn out.
Ms Constance Elizabeth Swaniker, the Chief Executive Officer of DTI, explaining the concepts of the PQ curriculum said it was about soft skills, which she opined that it was more powerful than hard skills.
The curriculum consist the change to grow, integration, people and team development, health and safety in the workplace and managing quality and customer relations modules.
She indicated that the Institution, aimed to bring industry to the doorsteps of KNUST and all other relevant technical universities.
The rapid growth and changing trends in industry, she noted, called for an urgent need to bridge the gap between academia and industry, urging institutions to position themselves to embrace new trends.
Ms Swaniker called on universities to pay attention to transitioning young people properly into the world of work.
She said transitions to work should begin from the first year and that students should be exposed to practicalities till they complete in order to equip them with adequate experience.
According to Ms. Swaniker, the signing of the MoU formed part of DTI’s collaborative strategy to work with stakeholders to “Transform youth TVET Livelihood for Sustainable Jobs” Policy.
It seeks to enable some 30 million young people, particularly women, access dignified and fulfilling work opportunities by 2030.
Florence Afriyie Mensah
