Mr Paul Effah, Executive Secretary of National Council for Tertiary Education has appealed to Government to reposition the Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector with more resources to accelerate industrial growth and national development.
He said available statistics from developed countries indicated that significant investments in technical, vocational education and training accelerated their industrial growth and development.
Mr Effah made the appeal when speaking on the theme; "The Role of Technical, Vocational Education and Training in Ghana's Quest for Industrialisation", at the second annual research conference of Wa Polytechnic at Wa.
The conference provided an opportunity for the teaching staff to share ideas and present their research findings geared towards improving living standards of people in the Upper West Region.
Mr Effah pointed out that the role of TVET, must first and foremost provide the technical human capital to sustain industrial development.
In line with this, he said a lot of attention must be given to business-oriented institutions such as technical institutes and Polytechnics to build their capacity to train the required human capital for national and industrial development.
Mr Effah called on authorities of TVET institutions to exhibit strong leadership and management competences to attract support from both industry and the institutions.
"Institutions in collaboration with industry must establish science and technology parks and incubators to hatch and develop innovative ideas which could be transferred to industry," he added.
Professor Sampson Agodzo, Rector of Wa Polytechnic advised the teaching staff to undertake more research and innovation to make them more competitive at the tertiary level.
He appealed to government to provide allowances on books and research to Polytechnic teachers.
Professor Agodzo observed that current trends of employment in tertiary institutions did not guarantee job for life unless the employee contributed to knowledge through research and innovation to justify their continued engagement.