No hostel, no auditorium: Dr Hilla Limann Technical University freshers use walkway for orientation

Hundreds of freshers at Dr Hilla Limann Technical University in Wa in the Upper West Region have been forced to hold their orientation under an open walkway due to the university’s lack of an auditorium. The situation is among several infrastructure challenges confronting the institution, which is also the only technical university in Ghana without a completed student hostel. Vice-Chancellor, Prof Hamidatu Saaka Dramani, disclosed the challenges during a visit by Parliament’s Select Committee on Education, appealing for increased government investment to improve facilities and support the university’s growth. She said the absence of adequate infrastructure was affecting the institution’s ability to provide students with a full university experience and expand enrolment. “Finance has always been a big challenge for a young Technical University like ours. But we feel we could also do well internally like the bigger Technical Universities if our hostel is completed,” she said. An 18-year-old hostel project At the centre of the university’s accommodation challenge is a 1,000-bed hostel project that had been abandoned for 18 years. Although renovation works have resumed, Prof Dramani said the university was still struggling to provide accommodation for its students, many of whom have to rent rooms in the surrounding community. She said the lack of hostel facilities had become a major obstacle to attracting and retaining students who want to experience campus life. “As I mentioned earlier, we have now the 18-year-old abandoned hostel; work is now ongoing steadily, and we are really happy with the progress. I mean currently we are still the only Technical University without a hostel, and we have hammered on this over and over again,” she told the committee. Beyond accommodation, she said students wanted an environment where they could live, socialise and learn alongside their colleagues. “The kind of new students we have, they want to have the university feel. They want to play, they want to learn at the same time, they want to interact with colleagues,” she said. “When there is no hostel facility, they say, ‘I can stay in my father’s house, I’ve been in that house for a very long time, I just want to have the university feel’, and that is where Dr Hilla Limann will really get a big challenge.” Hostel capacity reduced from 1,000 to 600 beds The Education Committee visited the hostel site, where renovation works resumed about four months ago. However, the prolonged period of abandonment has affected the building’s structural integrity, forcing engineers to reduce its design from four floors to three. The adjustment will bring the facility’s capacity down from the initial 1,000 beds to 600. Prof Dramani said the university was also struggling with inadequate workshop space as new equipment continued to arrive for its technical programmes. “In fact, last month trucks kept coming with automobile equipment. Currently, the small workshop space that we have is being taken away by only two departments. Mechanical machine shop alone, we have about twenty machines sitting in there and so many other equipment,” she said. Education Committee members raise concerns Members of the parliamentary committee said the challenges were evident during their visit, particularly the use of an open walkway for the freshers’ orientation. The MP for Offinso North, Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah, said the arrangement was unlike anything he had encountered at a university. “This is the first time I’m seeing this number of students using such an area as an auditorium for freshers,” he said. The committee’s Vice-Chairman, Joseph Kwame Kumah, MP for Kintampo North, who led the delegation, also acknowledged the absence of a proper auditorium. “We have come to see with our naked eyes that for lack of an auditorium, an improvised auditorium is being used here,” he said. Mr Kumah commended the Education Minister for facilitating the resumption of renovation works on the hostel project. “You can hear the noise in the background; that is work that is ongoing to quickly see to the renovation. I would like to thank the Minister of Education for quickly seeing to the renovation works,” he added. VC appeals for more funding Prof Dramani appealed to the government to provide additional funding to complete the hostel facilities and expand workshop space to support teaching and learning. “We are really just making a humble appeal; even if nothing happens at all, those two hostels that are given to us by the government should really be completed as soon as possible. And if that is done, I think that will go a long way to really increase our enrolment. If we get an additional workshop space, it will really help our teaching and learning,” she said. She maintained that the university was academically prepared for expansion, noting that all its programmes had been accredited. The institution is also expanding from four faculties to seven, with plans for new faculties in Intelligence Systems, Agriculture, and Geosciences and Mining. The proposed Geosciences and Mining faculty is expected to benefit from the presence of the Azumah Gold Mine, which could serve as a practical learning environment for students. ‘We cannot pray our way out’ — Kyei Asamoah A former Director-General of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Dr Kyei Asamoah, said technical education required greater financial commitment because of its practical nature. He argued that government must invest substantially more in technical and vocational education than in conventional academic institutions. “TVET is a bit expensive. Applied education helps students acquire skills. We cannot pray our way out; we cannot memorise our way out. We need to invest in TVET,” he said. He added that expanding technical education in the region could help equip young people with employable skills and reduce the need for them to migrate to southern Ghana in search of opportunities. “Where the sun is, that is where the money is. If we can train and get our young ones employed here, they will not be moving down south,” he said. Committee proposes Tamale Technical University model The committee’s Chairman urged the university’s management to consider adopting a financing arrangement used by Tamale Technical University, where contractors pre-financed projects and were subsequently reimbursed by the government. “Tamale Technical University has been able to go into a memorandum of agreement where the contractor used his own money and has been able to move faster than the government could do, and later the government refunded the money,” he said. He stressed that the absence of student accommodation at a technical university was a major concern that needed urgent attention. “For a whole institution like a technical university not to have hostels for students, then we go nowhere,” he said. The Chairman also said the university could attract students from neighbouring countries, including Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, if its infrastructure and technical facilities were improved. Vice-Chairman Joseph Kwame Kumah pledged that the committee would lobby for the institution to receive the necessary support. He also called for greater motivation for lecturers who choose to work in Wa, acknowledging the challenges of attracting and retaining teaching staff outside major urban centres. “It is not easy to be in Wa and teach. People would like to move to Accra and Kumasi. The potential here is so huge. If attention is paid here, it will become an institution of its own. We are going to do proper lobbying for this school,” he assured.