Participants and facilitators after the workshop
The Sunyani Technical University is considering a ‘tenure system’ for all academic staff to encourage the staff to attach maximum seriousness to research, publications and innovations.
“The Governing Council is currently going through the Technical Universities Act, and would soon introduce the tenure system and at the end of your tenure, if you haven’t been able to publish adequately to move to the next level of your promotion, you will be shown the exit,” the Vice-Chancellor of STU, Ing. Prof. Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, has said.
He was speaking at a two-day workshop on contemporary research practices organised for senior members of Sunyani Technical University (STU) as part of efforts to sharpen their research and innovative skills.
Funded by the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat and facilitated by the RITNAK Training Institute, the participants were taken through topics such as Publishing in High Quality Journals, Qualitative Research, Systematic Literature Review, Advanced Quantitative Methods and Stakeholder Engagement in Research, among others.
The lead facilitators for the training were Prof. Nana Anokye, of Brunel University in the UK, Prof. Francis Fatoye and Prof. Gillian Yeowell, both of the Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK, Prof. Eric Fosu Oteng-Abayie, of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and Dr. Francis Atsu, of GIMPA.
In his address, the Vice-Chancellor of STU, Ing. Prof. Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, underscored the importance of research publications in academia, and encouraged the participants to take the training seriously to enhance their skills.
Applied research
“You are all aware of the importance of research to the existence of every university, and our university is not out when it comes to the importance of research because the Technical Universities in Ghana were set up for a purpose,” he stated.
He mentioned that undertaking applied research to help find solutions to some of the major problems confronting the society was one of the reasons for the establishment of Technical Universities in the country.
He therefore challenged the participants to take the training very serious, and make conscious efforts to come out innovative ways, through research, to proffer solutions to some of the major challenges militating against the development of society.
He also thanked the Ghana Scholarships Secretariat for funding the programme.
Also present at the two-day programme were the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of STU, Prof. Justice Solomon Korantwi-Barimah, and the Registrar, Mr. Samuel Ankama Obour.
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