Polytechnic education and its challenges

The main objective of polytechnic education is the promotion of technical and vocational education and training, technology transfer and skills development to enhance the socio-economic development of the country. Polytechnic education plays a vital role in human resource development of a country by creating skilled manpower, enhancing industrial productivity and improving the quality of life. 

 

Technical education, as part of the polytechnic system, covers courses and programmes in engineering, architecture, town planning technology, management, pharmacy and applied arts and crafts, hotel management and catering technology.

Ghana continues to witness an increasing demand for polytechnic education. It is therefore essential to identify the factors that contribute to the increasing demand for polytechnic education and the introduction of an alternative solution to provide quality education to all citizens of Ghana, as contained in the constitution of the country.

 

However good the intentions of government, polytechnic education in the country has faced a myriad of problems from society and the country’s economic structure. 

Recent concerns about the disproportionate number of students offering business-related programmes in the tertiary institutions, especially polytechnics, should not be blamed on the institutions but the larger society.

 Prospective students sometimes choose courses based on their perceptions of the sectors that would yield the fastest or most rewarding jobs. They may also decide on a course, based on the esteem in which society values that profession.

 Another problem is the confusion about the role and nature of polytechnic education, which is not clearly understood by many. Until recently, many polytechnic students had the erroneous impression that the Higher National Diploma (HND) was equivalent to a first degree while some members of the public felt that the polytechnics were duplicating what the universities were doing. Lack of understanding of the career-oriented nature of polytechnic education is responsible for these misconceptions. 

 

The polytechnics are not first choice institutions for many students because opportunities for academic progression are limited in Ghana and public recognition of the Higher National Diploma (HND) is quite low.

Polytechnic-trained graduates are expected, by virtue of their training, to be more practical-oriented or biased as compared to their colleagues trained in the universities. Industrial exposure gives the academics a chance to seek inputs and feedback from practising professionals who can provide valuable insight into the skills and abilities students would need in their career.  It also offers an opportunity for students to personally practise the theoretical models in the classroom to enhance their chances of securing employment after graduation. They are to serve the middle-level manpower management needs of the country in the drive towards industrialisation. Even though polytechnics have been training graduates into the world of work ever since their establishment, this pertinent role is becoming illusive because there seems to be no distinctive practical traits exhibited by the polytechnic graduates that distinguish them from the university-trained graduates.

 There is a need to scrutinise the system to categorise the gaps created and recommend ways to achieve their mandate of producing practically oriented graduates to aid the country’s industrialisation process or agenda.

Since the polytechnics are expected to give more practical approach to the training of its students, there is the need to come up with more forward-looking and resourceful ways of ensuring that its graduates acquire distinct practical expertise that would distinguish them from their colleagues trained in other similar tertiary institutions such as the universities.

 Currently, lecturers  with D. Tech and M. Tech qualifications are few and unavailable. It is expected that the polytechnics would marshal resources to train their lecturers in these technology degrees to have more practical-oriented staff.