Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, Minister for Education has called on all stakeholders to collectively, passionately and aggressively and without political considerations discuss and evolve a roadmap for the future of education in the country. Honourable Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang made this statement at the 49th Congregation ceremony of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
She stated that education must be seen as a whole, and that to think of education in segments is to miss the point. She added that planning at the pre-school level must be linked to the highest levels, bearing in mind the diverse needs and capabilities of learners and society. She said that access must immediately be tied up with quality, relevance and purpose and that the time had come for the numerous issues confronting education from the basic to the tertiary levels and problems related to the application of knowledge acquired or created to be resolved
Professor William Otoo Ellis, the Vice-Chancellor revealed that as part of efforts to build the research capacity of staff and departments, enhance multidisciplinary research and harness the expertise of staff within the University, the KNUST Research Fund had been established. The Fund with a seed capital of one hundred thousand Ghana Cedis (₵100,000) from internally generated funds would focus on problem-solving and multidisciplinary research for the socio-economic development of Ghana and Africa. He said applicants would be required to develop multidisciplinary research proposals in partnership with industry to help solve national developmental challenges.
In all, 8,179 students graduated: 2,684 or 33% being females and the remaining 5,495 representing 67% males. 7,615 of this number were undergraduates and 564 were postgraduate students.
The College of Architecture and Planning presented 1,090 students for graduation. 70 students representing 6% graduated with First Class, 666 representing 61% had Second Class Upper Division degrees, 333 representing 30.5% obtained Second Class Lower degrees and 21 graduated with passes.
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences presented a total of 1,624 students from 19 different areas of specializations. 117 graduates out of this number had First Class degrees, 829 or 51% had Second Class Upper while 622 or 28% had Second Class Lower degrees. 56 graduates constituting less than 4% had passes.
The College of Science presented 1,060 students. They comprised 93 First Class, 423 Second Class Upper, 463 Second Class Lower and 81 graduates with passes.
The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources presented 632 students, of which 471 were males and 161 females. The Faculty of Agriculture presented 362, Renewable Natural Resources 193 and Forest Resources Technology 77 graduands.
The College of Health Sciences presented 600 graduands. The Institute of Distance Learning (IDL) presented about 1900 students for graduation.