That, he indicated, would enable the country to derive the full benefits of technical education in the balance of theory and practice, which would become an antidote to youth unemployment in the country.

Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah gave the advice at the launch of a Partnership for Applied Sciences Project (PASS) by the Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU) and the Kumasi Technical University (KTU) in Cape Coast on Monday.

The four-year partnership agreement is aimed at building the capacity of staff of the two institutions to carry out projects in their individual niche areas. Prof Nsowah also urged government to show commitment to strengthening the capacity of the human resource, logistics and infrastructural base of the technical universities to gain the much needed global recognition.

He advised the technical universities to re-orient themselves on the requisite industrial demands with curriculum emphasis on the acquisition of employable skills.He said technical universities must re-position their academic delivery systems to comprehensively respond to the different training needs of learners from different socio-economic and academic backgrounds to prepare them for gainful employment and sustainable livelihoods.

Prof. Asiama Yeboah, the Interim Vice Chancellor of KTU, described the partnership as strategic and timely as it would significantly ease the enormous financial burden on the two institutions to deliver on their mandate.

He noted that the collaboration would not only equip staff of KTU with the requisite technical and administrative know-how, but would also re-orient the focus of students to appreciate the best practice of appropriately marrying theory with practice.“Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is absolutely the vehicle to accelerate industrialisation in Ghana, and therefore, should be given a priority,” he added.