Engineering students are being encouraged to take advantage of internship opportunities to solve industrial and real-life problems.

The internship Coordinator of the PartnerAfrika-Projekt at the College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Mr. Kwadwo Nyantakyi Marfo, observes that internship gives insight into many problems confronting industries and the society.

“At the College of Engineering we prioritize entrepreneurship and innovation, which is why internship training with industry is critical in students' engineering education.

“This helps students identify industrial and real-life problems and provide insight into how to solve them,” he said.

PartnerAfrika-Projekt KNUST hosted a feedback session on the internship training in Kumasi.

PartnerAfrika-Projekt, partners from Arqum Germany, and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) were at the feedback session.  

420 students applied for the 2022 summer internship program, and 120 were shortlisted.

Students took part in four weeks of robust training sessions, and 86 students took the certification examination, with 58 passing with a minimum score of 50%.

Twenty-eight students attended the internship feedback session and took turns providing feedback and sharing their experiences at their various companies.

Project lead, Prof. Jerry John Kponyo was pleased with the internship training.

He encouraged the students to provide honest feedback to help the project meet its goals.

“The greatest asset of any organization is its people, and I recognize the invaluable contribution of PartnerAfrika-Projekt's partners and staff, as well as their hard work and contribution to the project's success.

“It is always important to receive feedback because the input can be tweaked for a better output based on the feedback received," he said.

Felix Nagl, Consultant for Environment and Sustainability at Arqum in Germany, added that the students share their positive and negative experiences, as this will assist the project and its partners revise the project terms.

The AGI team was happy with the students’ performance and congratulated them on successful completion of their internship.

Thompson Appam Attebila, Ashanti, Bono East, and Ahafo Regional Manager, AGI, assured participants that many other companies would be engaged for increased intake.

Emmanuel Adu-Nti, Quality Assurance Manager at Vester Oil Mills, admonished the students to broaden their horizons beyond a single field.

“Internships provide exposure and aid in developing long-term relationships. Working in the industry can be interesting and enjoyable," he said.

The students mentioned having an incredible internship experience and acquiring stress and time management skills. They said training sessions were comprehensive and rich in content and would wish for it to be done outside lecture hours not to affect students’ lectures.

The PartnerAfrika-Projekt is within the framework of the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation between Unternehmer Baden-Württemberg e.V. (UBW) and Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana.

The project aims to enable KNUST, AGI, and local partners to offer innovative services to their members (focusing on sustainable production and digitalization), creating jobs and income in the industrial sector, particularly with SMEs.

The PartnerAfrika-Projekt KNUST stakeholders are the KNUST College of Engineering, the Innovation Center, and the KNUST Engineering Education Project (KEEP).