Management of the Sunyani Technical University will soon launch an endowment fund aimed at sourcing funds, for the development of the University.

The fund dubbed; "Sunyani Technical University Endowment Fund," is to help achieve a significant facelift based on the University's developed new master plan and strategic plan. 

The Vice-Chancellor of STU, Prof. Ing. Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah revealed during the second session of the 13th congregation ceremony held virtually on Friday for the Higher National Diploma (HND) and other non-tertiary programs of study in the 2019/20 academic year.

The first session was held in December 2020 for the Bachelor of Technology (B-Tech) graduands.

He said the management's determination to give the University campus a facelift resulted in developing a new master plan and a new 5-year strategic plan, which will be launched soon by the STU Council.

Prof. Ing. Adinkrah-Appiah noted these plans "will be followed by a massive and well-coordinated short, medium, and long-term development of the University to bring the needed change."

"Management, therefore, urges all stakeholders; students, staff, the private sector, STU Alumni Association, and Government to contribute in cash or in-kind to help the re-development of the University to realize its goals," he added.

He said more than 40 staff of the University are being sponsored to obtain higher degrees, through IGF and GETFund Staff Development allocations, in both local and foreign Institutions as part of staff development.

"The institution has recently paid a total sum of GHC 150,000 from its IGF as fees to KNUST on behalf of staff who are being sponsored to pursue Ph.D. programs in Engineering and other areas," he revealed. 

The Vice-Chancellor of STU, Prof. Ing. Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, who is also the chairman of Vice-Chancellors of Technical Universities, appealed to the government, "to as a matter of urgency, connect all the ten Technical Universities (TUs) in Ghana to the Free ECG Wi-Fi internet project, which has already been extended to some Public Universities, so that Students and Staff of the TUs can smoothly carry out teaching and learning in this era of COVID-19."

The chairman of the STU council, Ing. Dr. Kwame Agyeman Boakye, on his part, appealed to the government to increase their GETfund allocation to expedite the completion of the University's Science Park Complex after the inauguration of the first phase in 2020. He described the project as a major infrastructure at the heart of academic work at STU.

He further reiterated, Ghana's aspiration to become an upper-middle-income country cannot be realized without integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Innovation into national development strategies.

The STU has started Seven (7) new 4-year Bachelor of Technology programs accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) in 2020. A total of 514 first-year students have already enrolled, and the Management of STU is working to be accredited for six other programs to be introduced next academic year.

The graduation ceremony saw a total of 1,381 graduands awarded HND and other Non-Tertiary certificates in Engineering, TVET, Applied Science and Technology, Applied Arts, as well as, Business and Management disciplines. Out of the graduating list, 852 (61.7%) are males, whilst 529 (38.3%) are females. 

Ing. Dr. Kwame Agyeman Boakye advised the graduands not to join the “Unemployed Graduates Association,” but to form partnerships, if need be, and create jobs for themselves by making good use of the knowledge acquired during their time at STU.