The Kumasi Technical University is expanding its infrastructure facilities, including the construction of a GH¢6 million four-storey lecture hall to accommodate the first batch of free senior high school (SHS) graduates.
The multi-purpose lecture complex is to ease the pressure on existing lecture halls as the university prepares to welcome about 12,000 fresh students in 2020, an increase of more than 8,000.
The facility, located at Adako Jachie, one of the new sites of the university, which is about 95 per cent complete, is being funded from internally generated funds (IGFs).
Already, the Faculty of Built and Natural Environment has been relocated to the new site as a medium-term measure as plans are put in place to build a new face of the university on the 250-acre land at Kuntase/Piase in the Bosomtwe District.
Last year, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cut the sod for the construction of the GH¢500 million university but the school has struggled to raise the needed funds.
Appeal
The acting Vice-Chancellor of the Kumasi Technical University, Prof. Asiama Yeboah, told the Daily Graphic that already a massive accommodation facility had been put up for lecturers at the Adako Jachie site for a smooth take off.
He appealed to government to lift the ban on employment to enable the university to recruit both teaching and non-teaching staff to handle the increase in intake.
He described as unfair the government’s decision to allow only Legon and KNUST to recruit and deny the technical universities.
Renting
Before he took over as the vice-chancellor, the institution, formerly known as the Kumasi Polytechnic, was renting a private apartment to augment its lecture halls.
Now the situation appears to have improved massively with enough lecture halls following the relocation of the Faculty of Built and Natural Environment.
Programme
Prof. Asiama Yeboah also appealed to the government to help retool and upgrade the existing laboratory to effectively run the Dispensary Technician, Medical Laboratory Technician and Industrial Laboratory Technician programmes.
Currently, the university runs 10 undergraduate programmes, including four-year degree courses and five MTech programmes.
Prof. Asiama Yeboah, who has been applauded for improving the financial situation of the institution with “internal checks and discipline”, pounding his chest for ensuring that bills were paid ahead of time and reserves improved.
Exiting
After two years of being in an acting capacity, the acting VC is rumoured to be exiting, but he refused to comment in it.
He is being touted to have transformed the university in the last two years, including developing a blueprint for its acceleration.
Prof. Asiama Yeboah is also credited for improving computer literacy with the provision of a number of computers and improving the fleet of cars and buses the university as a result of prudent financial management.
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Graphic Online
