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Professor Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, Vice Chancellor of Sunyani Technical University (STU), has appealed to the government to grant financial clearance for the recruitment of additional lecturers and staff.
“We request that the government, through the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) grant prompt approval for the replacement of exit lecturers and staff,” Prof Adinkrah-Appiah stated.
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Addressing the seventeenth congregation of the University in Sunyani, Prof Adinkrah-Appiah said the institution spent over GHC250,000 monthly from their constrained Internally Generated Fund (IGF) on part-time lecturers.
The congregation was on the theme: “Employability and Job Creation: Leveraging Technical and Entrepreneurial Skills Training”. In all, 1,012 graduates who pursued various programmes in Master of Technology (MTech), Higher National Diploma and Diploma in the 2023/2024 academic year were awarded certificates.
Prof Adinkrah-Appiah emphasised that the IGF alone was insufficient to support the “hiring of the required number of lecturers needed to meet the academic demands of our institution.” He said: “Our ability to recruit immediately upon staff departure is essential to sustaining academic quality and institutional efficiency.”
The Vice Chancellor said despite the marginal increase in faculty strength from 249 in 2024 to255 in 2025, the STU continued to grapple with lecturer-to-student ratio challenges. Prof Adinkrah-Appiah added that with an enrollment nearing 10,000 students, the various Departments struggled to meet the ratio prescribed by GTEC across various programmes.
He said the Management had developed a strategic plan to enhance faculty quality and capacity, which included recruiting part-time staff and investing in the development of lecturers. He said the university, in collaboration with the Edinburgh College, United Kingdom, with support from the British Council recently held a staff training in entrepreneurship programme.
The training, he said, had equipped the staff with the required skills to guide students in engaging in start-up ventures before graduation. Mr Francis Tornyevide, a past student who was the guest speaker, urged the graduates to prioritise innovation and adaptability, saying, “It’s not just the certificate you hold, but what you can do to change society.”
He urged the graduates to reflect deeply, retool and pursue “what will give us fulfillment, and invest our energy into productive ventures.”
Source: GNA
