The Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU) has graduated about 1130

students during its 20th Congregation held on March 23, 2024. Of the 1130 who graduated, 262 graduated with a Bachelor of Technology, 629 with a Higher National Diploma (HND) and 239 at the Diploma level.

The 20th congregation was a significant feature of the University’s recently launched 40th anniversary.

Addressing the congregation, Professor Kwaku Adutwum Ayim Boakye, Vice Chancellor of the University, said students’ accommodation, in particular, was a major challenge, which management was exploring all means legal to help resolve.

He appealed to the government to help construct more buildings and complete stalled projects in the Institution to reduce the infrastructural deficit. He said, “Our target is to double the available bed space within the next year. The less said about the stalled GETFund projects such as the commercial block and the auditorium, the better.

“We appeal to the government to intervene quickly to complete our efforts at closing the infrastructure gap,” he said. Prof Boakye said as part of efforts to improve on the infrastructure situation, the University had earmarked 10 large classrooms and 30 offices for complete refurbishment and retooling under phase one of its rehabilitation and refurbishment project.

He said the University in 2023, procured 110 new computers to facilitate teaching, learning and administrative work. “Work is progressing smoothly on the automation of the University’s library. The

project which is 90 per cent done is to be completed by the end of March this year,”

he said. The Vice Chancellor applauded the six schools of the University for their creditable performance in research, teaching and community services and highlighted further efforts to position the institution among the best globally.

He said the University currently runs 70 academic programmes duly accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC). It had also introduced seven new programmes in the 2023/2024 academic year including M. Tech in Construction Technology and Management, B. Tech in Virtualisation and Cloud Computing, Bachelor of Arts in Information Science and B. Tech in Industrial Arts and Design.

Prof Boakye disclosed that CCTU entered into some international and local partnerships to further its mandate as the leader in renewable energy. To that end, the University had signed various agreements with international partners in Europe and America and under such programmes, three staff and over 20 students are expected to visit various partner universities in the coming year.

He further indicated that they were working to boost their internally generated funds by operationalising some key commercial centres. These included the AVIC Centre, (an international holding corporation) was fully operational and had already serviced almost 100 cars, adding that no vehicle belonging to the University had been serviced outside since January 6, 2024. Soon to be rolled out under a similar structure will be the University’s restaurant, bindery, metal fabrication centre, basic school, clinic and greenhouse.

Touting some of their achievements, he said the CCTU Engineering Design and Innovation Centre (EDIC) had revamped its solar power tricycle with a new lithium iron phosphate battery to improve the range from about 5 kilometres to 130 kilometres.

He said the centre had also designed and installed Central Region’s first electronic charging hub and was ready to partner government and the private sector to set up charging hubs for electric vehicles. He further revealed that “The Department of Food Science and Post-Harvest Technology has successfully developed Ghana’s first ever sanitary pad made of bamboo. We are in the process of patenting the prototype for further production.”

The Vice-Chancellor announced that, over the period, the University won grants and donations worth approximately three million Ghanaian Cedis. Professor Boakye thus challenged the fresh graduates to be unique and committed to making a difference in society.

He also admonished them to embrace challenges for their personal and professional growth, stressing that life would only give them what they worked for and not what they deserved.

“Don’t be discouraged when you face challenges but rise and forge ahead. Seek to serve and not to be served, never stop learning and always be grateful for the little things in life,” he advised.

Addressing the congregation, the special guest speaker, Mrs. Harriet Karikari, an Alumna of the University who is the African Vice President in charge of Western Africa at the Institute of Internal Auditors, advised graduands to anticipate the challenges that lay ahead of them.

She highlighted the surge of unemployment in the country, the evolution of the world which comes with innumerable global issues such as climate change, digitalization, energy issues, and social inequality among others.

Mrs Karikari indicated that as leaders of tomorrow, it behoves the fresh graduands to confront these challenges head-on and work at building a more sustainable future for themselves.