Contribution of polytechnics towards nation building (Feature)

FOR the first time in this country, the Conference of Rectors of Polytechnics (CORP) in Ghana organised a research conference to enable polytechnics have a common platform to discuss specific issues that would contribute towards the building of the economy. The three-day national event was on the theme: “Contribution of Polytechnics Towards Nation Building”. The conference attracted 98 participants.
It is significant to note that the conference took place two years after the formulation of the new Polytechnic Law, Act 745 of 2007, which gave academic autonomy to polytechnics. That, according to the Chairman of the Conference of Rectors of Polytechnics (CORP), Dr Benjamin Kwesi Prah, has placed a huge responsibility on the shoulders of every stakeholder operating in any of the institutions.
“This calls for a different polytechnic lecturer, administrator and worker. Polytechnics must be conscious of the fact that all the supervising agencies will be watching them keenly with multiple magnifying glasses to see whether the polytechnics are equal to the task or not”, he stressed.
As the rectors met to deliberate on a wide range of issues at the research conference at Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region, their anticipated benefits included the generation of ideas for national development; creating awareness about the role of polytechnics in human resource development; empowering the polytechnic community to be more innovative and proactive to proffer solutions to the challenges facing the country. They also looked at ways to initiate strategies that would help modernise operational processes to be cost-effective and competitive in today’s globalised environment.
The conference was also expected to offer greater opportunities for members of the polytechnic community to develop their research capabilities in various fields of human endeavours.
At the end of the day, a total of 75 research papers presented at the conference covered Engineering, Applied Sciences and Commerce.
It is important, at this juncture to note that polytechnics in Ghana, just as in other parts of the world play very important role because they provide people with professional and specific skills that contribute to their empowerment and development. After acquiring the requisite knowledge and skills, polytechnic graduates go out to the world to contribute their quota in diverse ways. This is the more reason why the research conference which involved heads of the polytechnics and lecturers was considered very important and timely.
As they moved on with issues tabled for the conference, the participants reminded themselves of how the world was changing rapidly mainly through technological development and also the fact that there was always the need to anticipate change and plan for it. It was made clear that ideas that would be generated from the conference would add to knowledge creation and sharing among academia, industry and the society at large.
With these at the back of their minds, the rectors and lecturers from the various polytechnics braced themselves up for the future.
When he was given the opportunity to address the participants on behalf of the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tetteh-Enyo, the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of tertiary education, Dr Joseph Samuel Annan said the utmost goal of research must be higher productivity, efficiency and total national development but not a means to getting academic progression for status or income.
Dr Annan stressed on the need for researchers to help industry and commerce to satisfy consumer demands. He also urged academics and researchers to foster a closer collaboration with industry and commerce so that research findings would be utilised promptly and effectively.
He also touched on one important issue when he said there was no basis for competition between the universities and the polytechnic, because, the two institutions complemented one another.
Dr Annan took also touch on the oil find and asked Ghanaians not to be deceived into thinking that the oil industry would be a panacea to all the country’s problems overnight.
“We can only realise the full benefits of the industry if other productive sectors are modernised and adequately resourced to enhance our production of goods and services that would be needed by the industry and the citizenry,” he said.
When it was his turn to welcome his colleagues to the conference, Dr Prah said a common research conference for all the polytechnics was a laudable idea because if each polytechnic was allowed to organise its own research conference, it would not be cost-effective and may sooner than later bring boredom and eventually lose its meaning.
He reminded the polytechnics that nation building was a collective responsibility so efforts must be made to harness the expertise and skills of all citizens.
At the end, a communiqué issued at the end of the conference called on the Government to provide increased and sustained funding for research work in the polytechnics.
It also called on the Government to provide significant funding to Technical, Vocational and Educational Training (TVET),as well as scholarship to TVET institutions in order to build capacity in those institutions.
The communiqué stressed the need for polytechnics to develop research partnerships with their counterparts both locally and internationally.
It also urged polytechnics and industry to intensify collaboration on issues of attachment and internships for students and staff.
At the end of the research conference, it became clear that a new dawn had been ushered in at the campuses of the various polytechnics where those institutions have been given the opportunity to show-case to the world their unique potentials towards the building of the nation.
Just as the rectors expressed gratitude to the Government for the support it had so far offered the institutions, they also asked for more assistance to enable them contribute effectively and promptly to the development of the nation. Again, it is expected that the research conference would be sustained and organised annually.




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