The Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has called for an enhancement of the academic staff of the institution, characterizing their ratio to the current student population as inadequate.
Speaking at the climax of the 57th Congregation of the KNUST on March 23, 2024, he said the inadequacy of the teaching staff level impedes the growing needs and expectations of the school.
Though he recognized that the need is not particular to just KNUST, he wants KNUST placed in a special category and prioritized due to its pivotal role in the developmental agenda of the nation.
“Despite the successes that the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology proudly boasts of, the unfavourable staff-student ratio has been the University’s aspiration of running to its full extent. In the implementation of the strategic objective of the University leading, among others, to the establishment of the Obuasi campus, the operation of distance learning Programs across the country, and the mentoring of over 70 nursing and midwifery training institutions, the current staff strength of 1,190 faculty with the corresponding student population of over 85,000 is woefully inadequate to support effectively the academic business of the University.”
He highlighted, “I’m informed that the government has approved some quotas recruitment for universities. It is my ardent wish that KNUST would be placed in a special category and prioritized considering the pivotal role the university plays in the developmental agenda of the nation.”
Reacting to the request of the King, the Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, who was present at the event, said the request would be hastily addressed.
“So many requests have been made but when the Chancellor speaks, the Minister hears.”
The 57th Congregation began on March 21 and saw the graduation of 5,394 students in various programs, out of which 2,418 were undergraduates and 2,976 postgraduates.
The event on Saturday saw 880 postgraduate students – 91 PhD students and 789 MPhil students – of the institution bagging degrees in various fields.
Present at the event were the Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Rita Akosua Dickson, Chairman of the University Council, Justice Anin Yeboah, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ellis Owusu-Dabo, and traditional authorities.
