The Chairman of Sunyani Technical University Governing Council has said the institution is focused on leading Ghana’s industrialisation agenda to reduce poverty and attain Ghana without aid, among others.

Dr Kwame Agyeman Boakye, however, said this can only be achieved if all stakeholders will support with resources for a well-grounded sustainable human and infrastructure development that will help build the capacity of the youths expected to play key roles in the agenda.

He spoke at the 55th-anniversary launch of the University in Sunyani in the Bono Region.

It coincided with the 14th graduation ceremony and the launch of an endowment fund expected to drive forward the university's human capital and infrastructure development.

The celebration on the theme ‘STU, 55 years of progress and achievement in TVET and Engineering Education: Mobilising Excellence for Leadership in Ghana’s Industrialization Agenda’ runs till the end of 2022.

Dr Agyeman Boakye said the theme is an indication they are not content with their past achievement, “but very much focused on the present and the future of leading Ghana’s industrialisation agenda to achieve national objectives for poverty reduction, the competitiveness of enterprises, sustainable environmental management, industrial growth, and Ghana without aid”.

To achieve this, the Council Chairman said it requires the support of all stakeholders to enable the institution to build the capacity of students with the right personnel and infrastructure.

He, however, said resources need to be marshalled and crystalised into an endowment fund to have the support institutionalised, strengthened, and sustained to achieve the desired objectives.

He, therefore, said the STU endowment fund is to help reduce the needs of the university and drive forward its human capital and infrastructure development per the Strategic Plan and Master Plan.

Whilst the strategic plan spells out the university's development within a five-year plan (2020-2025), the master plan focuses on the long-term sustainable infrastructural development of the institution.

The fund has a target of ¢300 million in 2025 and beyond, with an initial target of GHS 50 million in the first year.

Dr Agyeman Boakye, therefore, appealed to all stakeholders to generously donate to the fund to help the university’s development and the industrial development of Ghana.

Paramount Chief of Dormaa Traditional Area, Osagyefo Oseadeayo Dr Agyemang Badu II, and the Bono Regional Minister, Justina Owusu Banahene, pledged ¢10,000 each, while the Council Chairman and Council members, the Vice-Chancellor, Management and Staff of the University, also pledged to contribute ¢1 million to support the Endowment Fund.

The Council Chairman also appealed to the government to provide an asphalt overlay for the major roads within the university, which are dusty during the dry season and muddy when it rains.

He thanked the government for granting STU the full package of the AVIC Ultra-Modern Laboratory Complex Project, under the collaboration between the government of Ghana and China.

The institution was founded in 1967 as Sunyani Technical Institute to contribute to Ghana's technical human resource needs.

It was upgraded to Polytechnic in 1997 when the government decided to emphasise Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

However, in 2016, it was converted to a Technical University following the promulgation of the Technical Universities Act, 2016 (Act 922) as amended.