The Ho Technical University (HTU) has been granted accreditation to run four-year straight bachelor of technology degree in hospitality management.

Consequently, the University has started admitting students into the programme for the 2019/2020 academic year.

Professor Ben Honyenuga, Vice Chancellor of the University who disclosed this at a press briefing in Ho, said the University was awaiting final accreditation for five more programmes and asked prospective students to take advantage of opportunities in the University.

The programmes are; Events, Leisure and Tourism Management, Agro Enterprise Development, Information Communication Technology, Fashion Design and Textiles and Food Technology.

He praised the Hospitality Management Department for emerging winners of the fourth American Chicken Cooking Competition for all technical universities in Ghana by the American Poultry and Egg Council, saying Hospitality Management remained the University's niche area.

"We are the standard bearer in hospitality training in Ghana and never come second or third in any competition with our graduates all over in reputable firms, some self-established," the Vice Chancellor said.

He said the University was forging partnerships with universities globally to rebrand HTU as a world brand Technical and Vocational Education and Training institution.

Prof. Honyenuga said the University had won a three-year grant under the Erasmus-Plus programme sponsored by the European Union for exchange programmes with the University of Rheine Waal University of Applied Sciences, with a similar one at the Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

He said the plan was to model HTU after the German model of Universities of Applied Sciences, "blending the German experience with the Ghanaian idea will help us reach that point of unrivaled excellence".

Prof. Honyenuga said another milestone was the winning of grants from the Skills Development Fund to train and equip industry players in various areas of trade and bridging the academic-industry gap and asked the public to expect more from HTU in coming months and years.