By   Obed Dalad Mba

  (Public Affairs Directorate)

The Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) has announced its intention to run more postgraduate programmes in the areas of Marketing and Communication Studies, Hospitality Management, Accounting, Financial Engineering, as well as Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) to meet the evolving demands of industry and society.

Currently, among   the departments that are   running postgraduate programmes include Ecological Agriculture and Procurement and Logistics Managements (PLM).  

Professor Samuel Erasmus Alnaa, Vice Chancellor, of BTU, who made this known during the 13th congregation of the University, held on May 17, 2025 at its main campus at Bolgatanga- Sumbrungu in the Upper East Region, stressed that the University is very ambitious to contributing to the redefining Ghana’s higher education and industrial landscape.

 “These will create   progression pathways for both professional and academic development of students. In view of this, I urge the public to choose from our brochure of programmes available to develop their competencies and skills for job creation and also take advantage of job openings that may come their way,”, the Vice Chancellor said.

 Professor Alnaa who indicated that the University had already introduced several programmes in order to contribute to meeting the growing demand of the industry, however, stated that the University had inadequate teaching staff to teach the various courses.

“We have to contend with the existing staff and part-time lecturers, who are currently overloaded with so many courses to teach. This is very straining and negatively affects the instructional delivery of lecturers as well as assessment of students. Given the above, I implore government to urgently consider granting us financial clearance to recruit more staff”, he appealed.

The Vice Chancellor further reminded government of the infrastructure challenges of the University including limited lecture halls and office space and appealed to government to help address the situation which has been on the drawing board since 2017.

“It is very unfortunate that this project is still not given any financial allocation to get it constructed. We plead with the government to come to the aid of Bolgatanga Technical University as the lecture hall situation is very disturbing”, he said.

A total of 676 graduands, comprising 389 males and 287 females were awarded with various degrees, ranging from Bachelor of Technology, Higher National Diploma, Diploma, CBT graduands.

In a speech, read on his behalf, Professor Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), emphasized the role of TVET in transforming the economy and commended BTU for its role in producing entrepreneurs to feed the industry.

“Bolgatanga Technical University has the potential to become a center for automotive and mechanical services and training by utilizing its state-of-the art laboratories and workshops. In this sense, I am confident that it would promote job creation for the country’s development and strengthen the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises in the region”, he said.