Efforts to strengthen renewable energy education in Ghana are progressing as academia and industry partners move to address two persistent challenges.

The challenges are financial barriers facing brilliant but disadvantaged students and the growing mismatch between university training and industry needs.

Coordinator of the project and lead author of the book: ‘Empowering Ghana’s Engineering Future,’ Professor William Oduro, says the initiative is designed not only to reform training but also to create a support system for students who struggle to finance their education.

“We’ve noticed in all the universities in this country and Africa that there are very disadvantaged and vulnerable students. We felt we could sell this book so we could take care of brilliant but disadvantaged students that don’t have the resources to continue,” he explained.

According to him, proceeds from the book will be channeled into an institutional support scheme to assist needy students, particularly those pursuing renewable energy programmes that require significant practical training.

“The money we will get out of the book will go into coffers that will take care of students who don’t have the money to take care of themselves in the university. The university has a system and the money is going to go there, and there will be a management for that,” he said.

Professor Oduro noted that while tuition for some specialised programmes averages about 11,000 dollars per student, the real financial burden comes from the practical components of renewable energy training.

“Government takes a lot. But when it comes to practical renewable energy where they can do hands-on work, in terms of travel and pilot projects, it is a lot of money. If you multiply 11,000 dollars by 10, even that is 110,000 dollars,” he added.

Beyond financial constraints, project leaders say a deeper structural problem exists within engineering education and there is a disconnect between what students learn and what employers expect.

Professor Samuel Gyamfi, Director of the Regional Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), said the initiative was informed by concerns that graduates were leaving university without the competencies required in the renewable energy sector.

“The book basically is about the disconnect between the competencies that are needed in industry and the graduate outcomes that we normally produce from the universities,” he said.

He explained that the team conducted detailed assessments to identify the specific skills demanded by industry and compared them with existing university curricula.

“We saw that there was a bit of a gap between the competencies that are required and then the training that we give to our students. And then we assessed the gap between these two and looked at how we could bridge it,” he noted.

The findings led to a series of reforms, including industry visits in Ghana and Germany, faculty capacity building, curriculum reviews, and the introduction of modern teaching approaches supported by digital tools.

Through collaboration between KNUST, UENR and Germany’s Technische Universität Berlin, the project has strengthened industry–academia linkages and introduced practical, problem-based training to better prepare graduates for the energy transition.

Supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and renewable energy industry partners, the initiative aims to serve as a model for professional engineering education in Ghana and across Africa.

Project leaders believe that addressing both financial barriers and skills gaps is critical to building a workforce capable of driving Ghana’s renewable energy ambitions.

As demand grows for clean energy solutions, they say investing in hands-on training and supporting talented but vulnerable students will be key to ensuring that no capable future engineer is left behind.