Polytechnics must collaborate with industry
The President of the Radford University College, Dr Paul Effah, has called for effective collaboration between polytechnics and industry to give students the needed experience even before they move into the world of work.
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He has therefore called for a look at the academic system for the polytechnic institutions to enable the students to combine academic work with the practical work that “we do because we are training people hands-on for industry.”
“The time has come now for us to look at how we structure our academic system so that the year round we can be releasing students to industry and do it in such a way that we combine academic work with the practical work that we do, because industry is keen on polytechnic work since we are training people for job-oriented work for industry,” Dr Effah told journalists at an orientation workshop for polytechnic rectors and their chairmen in Accra.
Purpose
The orientation was to get the chairmen of the various polytechnics to appreciate and understand their roles in running the institutions.
It was also an avenue to bring them together to understand each other and to sharpen their focus and skills for their new assignment.
Industrial attachment
Dr Effah said the current situation where students were released in bulk at the end of the year for industrial attachment made it impossible for them to learn the practical work and believed when the students were released in batches, it would be helpful.
Dr Effah, who was the resource person, explained that when the students were spread throughout the year, the attachment became more meaningful for the students, questioning, “If you send 100 people to one small industry, how are the students going to learn?”
He said with technological know-how, there were some equipment the industry had which the students never saw in school and that was why such attachments were necessary.
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Addressing the chairmen, Dr Effah advised them to be tactful in the execution of their duties, which called for independent judgment with reasonable care, diligence and skill.
Functions of polytechnic chairmen
He broke down the basic functions of the chairmen of the councils of polytechnics to three areas and identified them as lawmaking, administrative work and oversight responsibility.
Dr Effah, however, advised that while exercising their independent judgement, they should be humble enough to accept their mistakes, seek other people’s opinions on issues “since wisdom does not reside in one person.”
On loyalty, he reminded the council chairmen that they were put there “to act in the best interest of the polytechnics and not in one’s interest or the interest of another entity or person.”
Technical universities
Welcoming the participants, the Chairman of the Council of Rectors of Polytechnics (CORP), Professor N.N.N. Nsowah-Nuamah, reminded the participants that polytechnics in the country were at a critical stage of development, where the government was preparing to convert them to technical universities.
He said currently the polytechnics were bedevilled with a number of challenges which included court cases, incessant press conferences, anonymous letters to higher authorities, incitement of lecturers and students against management and bad blood between some groups of staff and management.
Forum
To address some of those challenges within itself, “CORP would like to propose the formation of the Forum of Council Chairmen of Polytechnics, who would meet at least once a year to deliberate on matters of common interest to the polytechnics and to exchange ideas on dealing with labour, academic and other matters on our campuses,” he hinted.