Revise university curricular, says former VC

Read Article

Comments (50)

This article is closed for comments.

Read Comments Comments (50)

Kofi Miawo De 10 years ago

I agree, one hundred percent.

I agree, one hundred percent.
Nyansasem 10 years ago

I want to help someone with Building Technology Degree from KNUST into our professional school here. But I realized that this dude did not take Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Organic Chemistry during his undergrad ...
read full comment

I want to help someone with Building Technology Degree from KNUST into our professional school here. But I realized that this dude did not take Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Organic Chemistry during his undergraduate studies. Damn. So I asked myself, what the heck did they teach them for 4 years? Now, even trying to get him to do Master's is becoming a problem. Hopefully, he will get into Construction or Engineering Management program.

This is what needs to be changed prompto. As far as I know, anyone trying to take any courses in any of the sciences in America or Canada has to take those basics sciences. This allows any student with these prerequisites to move on to Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Chemical or Electrical or Civil or Oil and Gas Engineering, Computer Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, etc.. Just anything in sciences.

Unfortunately, people are forced to settle on course offered to them by the archaic system and they are stuck with the system even if they wanted a change on the way, they could not.

People get into teaching just because they did not get good marks to go to University. And then he or she is sent to Post Sec. Could you believe that? A teacher who is going to teach you is not good enough.

People get into journalism because they could not get into English or Law Dept at Legon. Do you wonder why they they keep on writing "the doctor deliver the baby on the floor"
It is not too late!
Conventional Youth 10 years ago

Kofi Milawo De's Comment

"This is what needs to be changed prompto. As far as I know, anyone trying to take any courses in any of the sciences in America or Canada has to take those basics sciences. This allows any student ...
read full comment

Kofi Milawo De's Comment

"This is what needs to be changed prompto. As far as I know, anyone trying to take any courses in any of the sciences in America or Canada has to take those basics sciences. This allows any student with these prerequisites to move on to Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Chemical or Electrical or Civil or Oil and Gas Engineering, Computer Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, etc.. Just anything in sciences.

Unfortunately, people are forced to settle on course offered to them by the archaic system and they are stuck with the system even if they wanted a change on the way, they could not"

STEMICs

Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths,Innovation & communication skills &systems
Zoobie-Zoobie 10 years ago

They should listen to sensible people like you. Thanks for your comments.

They should listen to sensible people like you. Thanks for your comments.
GHFUO, change ur thinking 10 years ago

A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Kwadwo Asenso-OKyere, has observed that the current curricular of most Ghanaian universities are failing to stimulate entrepreneurial creativity in students, ther ...
read full comment

A former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Kwadwo Asenso-OKyere, has observed that the current curricular of most Ghanaian universities are failing to stimulate entrepreneurial creativity in students, thereby producing half-baked graduates who cannot transform the world around them.

WAT WERE U DOING WHEN U WERE CHANCELLOR? GYIMIS3M
william 10 years ago

HE SHOULD TELL US WHAT HE TRIED TO DO WHEN HE WAS VC, OR IS HE BORN AGAIN? AFTER PRODUCING COPYCATS AND TALKERS!

HE SHOULD TELL US WHAT HE TRIED TO DO WHEN HE WAS VC, OR IS HE BORN AGAIN? AFTER PRODUCING COPYCATS AND TALKERS!
MARCUS AMPADU 10 years ago

We have to start teaching our young people the sciences at a tender age, making use of their inherent curiousity.

We have to start teaching our young people the sciences at a tender age, making use of their inherent curiousity.
Tekonline.org 10 years ago

Marcus, that would be great. But the real problem is the perennial quest for ECONOMIC survival.

A well-fed kid would no doubt enjoy the fascination and wonders of nature. It's much harder when surrounded by thirst, hunger ...
read full comment

Marcus, that would be great. But the real problem is the perennial quest for ECONOMIC survival.

A well-fed kid would no doubt enjoy the fascination and wonders of nature. It's much harder when surrounded by thirst, hunger, and disease.

Even if in spite of all that, they STILL develop that fascination and curiosity, as you and I did against all the odds, they would quickly realize, as they grow up, that "making a living at all costs" is the norm.

Thus, students walk through the varsity gates with only one formula in mind: pass exams, obtain a degree, secure gainful employment, and enjoy life. (Actually, not such a bad formula, considering human nature)!

That would be the day, when a student passes through the gates of higher learning, seeking the joy of DISCOVERY, INVENTING, CREATING new knowledge, and embarking on INNOVATIVE ventures to solve societal problems.

For that to happen, there would have to be a healthy ECONOMIC CLIMATE in the country such that the brains of students would be engaged in innovative thinking and not just SURVIVAL.
MARCUS AMPADU 10 years ago

Challenge them with fun-filled Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths., Innovation, Communications program.

Challenge them with fun-filled Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths., Innovation, Communications program.
Tekonline.org 10 years ago

The would still grow up to worship East Legon mansions, Landcruisers, and hip-hop stars.
Who would get more respect in Ghana: a creative scientist or a filthy-rich business tycoon? Which personalities get the attention of t ...
read full comment

The would still grow up to worship East Legon mansions, Landcruisers, and hip-hop stars.
Who would get more respect in Ghana: a creative scientist or a filthy-rich business tycoon? Which personalities get the attention of the youth? Who gets the highest honor: a beauty queen or an inventor?

The WHOLE society should be attuned to the wonders of science and value matters of the intellect. Take a look at the TV programming and you would see the point.
Conventional Youth 10 years ago

I don't get your point Tekonling.org, are you saying STEMIC can't be made relevant and fun-filled in Ghana?

I don't get your point Tekonling.org, are you saying STEMIC can't be made relevant and fun-filled in Ghana?
Tekonline.org 10 years ago

Are you kidding, CY? I'm 1 million percent for making early science education not only fascinating,intriguing,and captivating, but even ADDICTIVE for kids.

I'm just asking for MORE than the classroom show. What is the poin ...
read full comment

Are you kidding, CY? I'm 1 million percent for making early science education not only fascinating,intriguing,and captivating, but even ADDICTIVE for kids.

I'm just asking for MORE than the classroom show. What is the point if they get all that stimulating stuff at school and look around and see a science-averse society? What if they witness that it is Uncle Kofi who has all the big toys, from his beer bar business? Is he going to grow up and after the BSc choose to pursue a $30,000-a-year scientific research career, rather than a $90,000-a-year as a lawyer?

So you see, the WHOLE society has to be part of the process. The TV should air far more science educational programs than beer commercials and musical shows.

The most powerful influence comes from the home setting, not the classroom. Kids should be given science educational toys for birthdays and christmas, and stimulating, colorful science books for daily reading. They should see parents opting to go to a public science lecture rather than an auto show or a funeral party.

And this is a test for you CY: if you are a parent, do you know about the BrainPop website (www.brainpop.org), for example? And HOW exactly should schools make science interesting? Where would they get science toys?

But there is a huge disadvantage on the home front. While the average South Korean or Malaysian parent has a college degree, many of our beloved parents in Ghana have not be that fortunate. Studies upon studies have shown that PARENTS have the greatest impact on a child's scientific leanings.

The nation as a whole should glorify science, and accord the greatest honor on Ghanaian scientists.

A more daunting task would be instilling in the very young that not all endeavors in life are for wealth creation; that it is also perfectly okay to seek greater understanding of nature, to explore nature deeply for the sake of satisfying curiosity as well as advancing knowledge for all mankind.
Conventional Youth 10 years ago

Wow Creative Research, innovation & Development (CRID)- You have exclusive STEMIC Potentials

< > Thanks Tekonline.

Wow Creative Research, innovation & Development (CRID)- You have exclusive STEMIC Potentials

< > Thanks Tekonline.
Tekonline.org 10 years ago

BrainPop's address should have been stated as:

www.brainpop.COM

BrainPop's address should have been stated as:

www.brainpop.COM
Conventional Youth 10 years ago

Making STEMIC Hubs & Systems accessible & feasible to the youth in all communities and schools would break circles of unemployment, boredom & crime.

Most Well informed and determined youth around the globe are already ra ...
read full comment

Making STEMIC Hubs & Systems accessible & feasible to the youth in all communities and schools would break circles of unemployment, boredom & crime.

Most Well informed and determined youth around the globe are already raking inn in all aspects of game -tech, hi-tech innovations & inventions.

Steve Jobs & living Bill Gates are still making huge impacts on some fortunate ones, irrespective of their age.

Reviews and cutting edge action plans are needed to capture and assist talented ones in their fundamental years.

Even what goes into kids school's play-base and activity programs matters in curriculum templates/ apps.

We must together act now as a country by being the first country to adopt STEMIC education.

This would make our citizens better communicators, thinkers, evaluators, capable of critically standing for issues affecting thier lives with confidence & CRIDy ethics.
Tekonline.org 10 years ago

CY, you wrote:
"...Most Well informed and determined youth around the globe are already raking in in all aspects of game -tech, hi-tech innovations & inventions..."

Very true indeed, and the East Africans are leading the ...
read full comment

CY, you wrote:
"...Most Well informed and determined youth around the globe are already raking in in all aspects of game -tech, hi-tech innovations & inventions..."

Very true indeed, and the East Africans are leading the way. THEY DO LESS TALKING AND JUST ACT, while Ghana wallows in political debacles!

--------------------------------------
The entrepreneurs of Africa's Silicon Savannah

by GEOFFREY YORK

NAIROBI — The Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Sep. 02 2013, 6:46 PM EDT

The four-story mall on Ngong Road was once crammed with exclusive shops for Nairobi’s wealthy elite, selling imported furniture, golf clubs, designer clothes, Range Rover parts and $600 saucepans for the nouveaux riches of an unequal society.

But over the past three years, the building has been transformed into a symbol of a new and stronger African economy. The luxury boutiques have quietly shut down and moved out, replaced by tenants with much less glitz but a lot more creativity: young Kenyan software designers and IT specialists with a mission to innovate.

In a warren of backroom labs in the former mall, now rebranded as the iHub, you can find one of their most ambitious creations: a world-class supercomputer, just the second to be built in Africa. And in the same room, designers have been tinkering with a super-tough Internet modem that could become Africa’s contribution to keeping Internet access alive in the most arduous conditions.

Kenya’s fast-growing IT sector, dubbed the Silicon Savannah, already accounts for 5 per cent of the country’s GDP. The Kenyan government is aiming to boost that share to 35 per cent. Its technology exports have soared from $16-million to $360-million in the past decade. Much of these exports are born in tech hubs and incubators such as the iHub – one of six such hubs in Kenya and more than 50 that now exist in at least 20 countries across Africa.

As the tech boom gains strength, multinational companies like Google, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia and IBM have flocked to Kenya to set up research labs or to support incubators such as iHub, where more than 50 startup companies have emerged since the hub’s launch in 2010. The iHub has become an icon of African geekdom, attracting more than 11,000 techie members to work and brainstorm ideas over endless cups of what its website boasts is “the best coffee in Nairobi.”

The boom was originally fuelled by cellphones. Africa’s mobile connection rates, among the cheapest in the world, have attracted more than 650-million cellphone subscriptions, with the total projected to reach a billion by 2015. In a continent where smartphones are outselling computers by four to one, the young programmers at the iHub and similar labs have created thousands of mobile apps, including innovative mobile-money services that have become so successful that 17-million Kenyans today use them.

But now, significantly, Kenya’s tech sector is shifting to a new level, venturing for the first time into hardware such as the supercomputer and the modem. It’s challenging the stereotypes about Africa, showcasing the smarts of the iHub’s tech entrepreneurs and potentially generating new revenue sources.

“In Africa and the Middle East, there was no supercomputer within the world’s top 500 machines,” said Jimmy Gitonga, one of the iHub managers who led the supercomputer project with help from Google and Intel. “Our achievement was that we debunked the myth and showed that we can do it.”

Since the supercomputer’s completion in January this year, the iHub entrepreneurs have worked on ways to gain commercial revenue from its data and research capacity. “Ultimately all of this information can be sold to the private sector,” said Phares Kariuki, another co-creator of the supercomputer.

“If you can give them more accurate and timely information than the government can provide, you can sell the economic data to banks or investors.”

After years of focusing on mobile apps in the early stages of the IT boom, it seemed natural for Kenya’s tech entrepreneurs to switch into manufacturing. “Increasingly you need a hardware component to make sure that your software solutions are complete,” Mr. Gitonga said.

The latest example is BRCK, a Kenyan-invented modem, billed as the “backup generator for the Internet.” Shaped like a brick but smaller and lighter, the $200 device provides a steady supply of power and connectivity to keep you linked to the Internet for hours at a time, regardless of electricity or network disruptions.

Its exterior shell is tough enough to withstand African dust and humidity, it can switch seamlessly among different Wi-Fi and cellphone networks, it can serve as a hotspot for up to 20 computers, and it can operate on battery power for up to eight hours after a power failure.

The device was launched with a Kickstarter campaign in May, quickly raising $172,000 (U.S.) to finance its production, surpassing its $125,000 target. The first versions of BRCK are expected to be shipped to buyers in November.

“This was built by us, for us, because we already know the pain of what happens when the Net connection goes out,” said Erik Hersman, founder of the iHub and a leader of the BRCK project.

Its main advantage is to allow African coders to continue their sessions for hours at a time, even if their power or Internet connection is interrupted. But it could also be popular among backpackers and world travellers from North America to Asia. Its slogan: “If it works in Africa, it will work anywhere.”

The device was created by Ushahidi, a Nairobi-based tech company that gained fame for its crowd-sourced disaster-mapping software, pioneered in 2008 during Kenya’s post-election violence and later used in thousands of other crisis situations around the world.

In its next move, the iHub plans to create a permanent space for Kenyan hardware designers. “We’ve never lost this maker mentality in Africa – this community of roadside manufacturers with roadside ingenuity,” said Mr. Hersman, a Kenyan-raised American who is also a co-founder of Ushahidi.

“Since we already have a hyperactive software side – the guys who can do the coding – what will happen if we can merge these two together, if we mix the blood between these two groups and begin making things?”

Not everything has gone smoothly. Importing components for the BRCK and the supercomputer is often a tortuous ordeal, with Kenyan customs officials demanding outrageous duty payments, and with engineers sometimes forced to check the components onto their Nairobi-bound flights in plastic bins. Early attempts at building a BRCK prototype often resulted in melted plastic and warped exteriors. But the success of the Kickstarter campaign is a sign that the Kenyans will overcome those challenges.

Just three years after its launch, the iHub is running out of room for further expansion at the former shopping mall on Ngong Road. “At the beginning we thought the space was too big, but then we realized it was too small,” Mr. Gitonga said.

“We’re expanding every six months. We try to snap up every available space as much as we can.”
--------------------------------------
kay 10 years ago

You should have seen this when you had the opportunity to change it. However, we shall pursue the suggestion. Thanks prof.

You should have seen this when you had the opportunity to change it. However, we shall pursue the suggestion. Thanks prof.
MARCUS AMPADU 10 years ago

It is time we revise the whole system of education in Ghana. For about four decades now we have subjected our selves to self-imposed miseducation. It has become the source of all our problems.

It is time we revise the whole system of education in Ghana. For about four decades now we have subjected our selves to self-imposed miseducation. It has become the source of all our problems.
MARCUS AMPADU 10 years ago

I was going to type "BLATANT MISEDUCATION" as my title. Sorry.

I was going to type "BLATANT MISEDUCATION" as my title. Sorry.
Conventional Youth 10 years ago

Prioritizing STEMIC Education is the most prudent way forward (Y)

Prioritizing STEMIC Education is the most prudent way forward (Y)
MARCUS AMPADU 10 years ago

The curricular lay out of the program and instructions from pre-k, basic,up to the university has to be made clear to all Ghanaians, especially, our policy makers.

The curricular lay out of the program and instructions from pre-k, basic,up to the university has to be made clear to all Ghanaians, especially, our policy makers.
John 10 years ago

Ghanaian universities's curricular and mode of knowledge delivery is outmoded. Please, the lecturers need to be told that the idea of giving notes to students is not only passe but kills creativity in the students. Students n ...
read full comment

Ghanaian universities's curricular and mode of knowledge delivery is outmoded. Please, the lecturers need to be told that the idea of giving notes to students is not only passe but kills creativity in the students. Students need to be challenged to think as they interact with the lecturer and peers in a dialogic manner and not be recepients of what the lecturers tell them in class. This is the bane of the Ghanaian educational systems. Our students are not taught to challenge authority or question what they see or hear; they are supposed to accept what they are told. How on earth can graduate students be assessed within three hours; they need to write term papers in a deeply reflective manner. The British have since abandoned the system they left us but we are stuck with it
Nyansasem 10 years ago

Did you watch the petition? Did you see how the lawyers could not even ask questions and they keep on repeating the same questions and how it takes them forever to think and ask another question?

At the Makola law school, ...
read full comment

Did you watch the petition? Did you see how the lawyers could not even ask questions and they keep on repeating the same questions and how it takes them forever to think and ask another question?

At the Makola law school, the lawyers who are been trained are not permitted, AGAIN, are not permitted to ask questions. Can you believe that? How could a lawyer whose job entails of asking questions be banned from asking questions during his training?

After hearing this, are you surprised of what you saw or heard from the petition?

Yet, they will tell you that they are the best in the world.
Conventional Youth 10 years ago

A normal system should encourage robust interactive spirit that relates to everyone equally.

A normal system should encourage robust interactive spirit that relates to everyone equally.
thinking man 10 years ago

Doc, what u suggest has been happening in a place called Ashesi University for the past 11 years. rather than waste precious time conducting research, why not tap into the knowledge that already exists over there.

Doc, what u suggest has been happening in a place called Ashesi University for the past 11 years. rather than waste precious time conducting research, why not tap into the knowledge that already exists over there.
Conventional Youth 10 years ago

Research makes reviews & innovation realistic & cost effective, remember, if we fail to plan, we plan to fail.

Research makes reviews & innovation realistic & cost effective, remember, if we fail to plan, we plan to fail.
Tekonline.org 10 years ago

CY, your push for Science and Engineering is greatly admired, but at times you mix up the concepts in a rather confounding way.

Engineering and Science are inseparable, being intertwined at all levels. Engineering itself, ...
read full comment

CY, your push for Science and Engineering is greatly admired, but at times you mix up the concepts in a rather confounding way.

Engineering and Science are inseparable, being intertwined at all levels. Engineering itself, is actually PRACTICAL SCIENCE, especially PHYSICS.

Take a water-purifying machine, using reverse-osmosis. The science part would be the principle of Osmotic Pressure and Permeable Membranes. The engineering phase would be the fabrication of components, and that might even bring in Material Science, efficient energy supply and delivery, etc.

So, there is always ongoing Science in Engineering, and by default, Engineering is PRACTICAL, even software engineering.

Also, there is a reason why the science part has to be solid. It takes one great scientific discovery to generate thousands of engineering products.

The greatest example of all time is the modern television set. Believe it or not, that became possible ONLY because of those intricate and boring equations of Einstein's called the Photoelectric Effect, for which he won the Nobel Prize. (Oh, by the way, the process of generating electricity from sunlight also is a brainchild of that boring theory)!
Conventional Youth 10 years ago

I am praying for the day when Ghanaians would upgrade & synchronize Kumasi magazine style of engineering into a regularized and world class industry.

I am praying for the day when Ghanaians would upgrade & synchronize Kumasi magazine style of engineering into a regularized and world class industry.
Tekonline.org 10 years ago

CY, I think the Suame Magazine phenomenon should be put in the proper perspective, otherwise you would be seen as being UNDER-EXPOSED to real technological marvels.

There is a place for our diligent artisans at Suame, let ...
read full comment

CY, I think the Suame Magazine phenomenon should be put in the proper perspective, otherwise you would be seen as being UNDER-EXPOSED to real technological marvels.

There is a place for our diligent artisans at Suame, let there be no doubt about that.

But let's face facts, you do NOT need a university degree to build a wheel-barrow. Even a high-school education would be an overkill! It is when you need a wheel-barrow that can move WITHOUT human intervention, that advanced education would have to come in. Say, a solar-powered wheel-barrow, that can navigate automatically in a farm BY ITSELF, dispersing seeds and watering plants. That would call for AUTOMATION, ROBOTICS, EMBEDDED SYSTEMS, SENSOR-TECHNOLOGY, HARDWARE-PROGRAMMIBNG, etc. See the difference?

Having said that, I think the Suame situation should be seen as a wonderful opportunity to develop an innovative educational system for those without formal education. These artisans CAN, and SHOULD, be educated about things like embedded systems (which are proliferating in vehicles of all types) using the local dialect, movies, multimedia systems, and live animation.

Such a novel educational system can then be extended to farmers, traditional healers, fishermen, carpenters, market women, etc.

The Suame artisans can be creatively transformed into a well-informed class of technicians to meet the challenges of modern-day technology.
Conventional Youth 10 years ago

Tek. I am simply, agitating for radical & ambitious educational [] industrial policies

Tek. I am simply, agitating for radical & ambitious educational [] industrial policies
Hard Reply 10 years ago

I perfectly agree with you. A university student should be a tool of doing something itself. The politics in the country is just too much. It doesn't bring development to a nation but argument.

I perfectly agree with you. A university student should be a tool of doing something itself. The politics in the country is just too much. It doesn't bring development to a nation but argument.
Conventional Youth 10 years ago

Quality & sustainable Development means,

Education

Employment

Enlightenment

Empowerment

Enterprise

Equity

Electability

Entertainment

Quality & sustainable Development means,

Education

Employment

Enlightenment

Empowerment

Enterprise

Equity

Electability

Entertainment
Delta Bravo 10 years ago

And it's not only the curricula which has to be overhauled but the primitive mode of instruction of many lecturers and so-called Professors!

Our embattled culture firstly does not support intellectual discourse or challeng ...
read full comment

And it's not only the curricula which has to be overhauled but the primitive mode of instruction of many lecturers and so-called Professors!

Our embattled culture firstly does not support intellectual discourse or challenge of the views and opinions of the elderly from the youth! In these day and age Ghanaian lecturers still expect their students to simply regurgitate their line of reasoning during exams! And woe be tide if you espouse a coherent but opposing view point! You would hear of threats like "degrees are not earned but awarded". So to make the educational reforms reflect the needs of industries and the economy as a whole would equally require a drastic change in the mind set of our academician in our universities
KANTANKA 10 years ago

WISDOM ABOUNDS IN YOU!!!!!THERE'S THE URGENT NEED FOR MAHAMA TO CALL YOU TO JOIN THE THREE WISE MEN ! GHANA NEEDS MORE OF YOU 1

WISDOM ABOUNDS IN YOU!!!!!THERE'S THE URGENT NEED FOR MAHAMA TO CALL YOU TO JOIN THE THREE WISE MEN ! GHANA NEEDS MORE OF YOU 1
Ashkenazi 10 years ago

IN THE UNIVERSITIES EVERY COURSE CURRICULUM IS SUPPOSED TO BE REVIEWED AT LEAST EVERY FOUR OR THREE YEARS DEPENDING ON THE DURATION OF PROGRAMS RUN, THIS REVIEW MUST BE DONE IN CONJUNCTION WITH RESPECTIVE INDUSTRIES SOMETIME ...
read full comment

IN THE UNIVERSITIES EVERY COURSE CURRICULUM IS SUPPOSED TO BE REVIEWED AT LEAST EVERY FOUR OR THREE YEARS DEPENDING ON THE DURATION OF PROGRAMS RUN, THIS REVIEW MUST BE DONE IN CONJUNCTION WITH RESPECTIVE INDUSTRIES SOMETIMES THROUGH THEIR PROFESSIONAL BODIES SUCH AS GHANA INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS, SURVEYOR, ARCHITECHS ETC. IS HE CLAIMING ALL THE YEARS HE WAS AT LEGON AS VC HE DID NOT KNOW THESE OR THEY DO NOT PRACTICE IT THERE?
USMAN 10 years ago

This patchwork to educational development will not work. What we need currently is a complete over-haul of the whole educational system, from primary through the polytechnics and colleges of education to the universities. We ...
read full comment

This patchwork to educational development will not work. What we need currently is a complete over-haul of the whole educational system, from primary through the polytechnics and colleges of education to the universities. We need to also establish the connectivity between this institutions so that a person from, say, a polytechnic can easily go to the university without any problem. I don't know the professional orientation of this former VC but I don't think he is even a critical pedagogist. As it stands now if even the curriculum is revised we will still have the same old bald heads to do the delivery.
GHFUO, change ur thinking 10 years ago

WHY CANT GH EMULATE WHT THE CANADIANS N AMERICANS ARE DOING IN TERMS OF KINDERGARTEN, PRIMARY, MIDDLE, HIGHSCHOOL, UNIVERSITY ETC....OH LORD. TOO MANY GYIMIS

WHY CANT GH EMULATE WHT THE CANADIANS N AMERICANS ARE DOING IN TERMS OF KINDERGARTEN, PRIMARY, MIDDLE, HIGHSCHOOL, UNIVERSITY ETC....OH LORD. TOO MANY GYIMIS
MARCUS AMPADU 10 years ago

Tell us what the Canadians and Americans are doing so that we can emulate them.

Tell us what the Canadians and Americans are doing so that we can emulate them.
zomabi 10 years ago

FOR 57 YEARS NOW GHANA HAS WASTED TIME, ENERGY AND RESOURCES ON AN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM WHICH HELPS US TO UNDERDEVELOP OURSELVES. IT SAID THE ECONOMY IS GROWING BUT IT CANNOT PRODUCE JOBS. IT CANNOT ALSO GENERATE THE REQUIRED T ...
read full comment

FOR 57 YEARS NOW GHANA HAS WASTED TIME, ENERGY AND RESOURCES ON AN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM WHICH HELPS US TO UNDERDEVELOP OURSELVES. IT SAID THE ECONOMY IS GROWING BUT IT CANNOT PRODUCE JOBS. IT CANNOT ALSO GENERATE THE REQUIRED TAXATION TO RUN THE STATE. GHANA IS CURRENTLY BROKE. HOW LONG SHALL WE STAY IN THIS COLONIAL SHACKLES?. NKRUMAH WHERE ART THOU? WHEN SHALL WE GET A LEADER WITH FIRE INNA BELLY?
Tekonline.org 10 years ago

Perhaps the development paralysis is because everyone is looking up to visionary leaders IN THE GRAVE.

Ghana is YOU and I. Why couldn't you say: "Zomabi, where am I? When can I turn on the fire in my belly? What can I do f ...
read full comment

Perhaps the development paralysis is because everyone is looking up to visionary leaders IN THE GRAVE.

Ghana is YOU and I. Why couldn't you say: "Zomabi, where am I? When can I turn on the fire in my belly? What can I do for Ghana with that wonderful tool inside my skull?"
Evangelist Yaw Forster-Pretoria S Afr 10 years ago

Its been too long in coming. Whilst a student at Legon I asked the question; of what use are 200 plus graduates of Ancient History and such related subjects to Ghana's then 'dead' economy? I came back from Russia and after co ...
read full comment

Its been too long in coming. Whilst a student at Legon I asked the question; of what use are 200 plus graduates of Ancient History and such related subjects to Ghana's then 'dead' economy? I came back from Russia and after completion of the course asked why spend on Russian language which should have been of relevance to the Foreign Ministry but was not to the economy. That was when artisans were in critically short supply and the few were 'illiterate.' And I believe the many mushrooming private Varsities are duplicating the very same course structure. Wake up, arise and move; Ghana!
KWARNING,NJ 10 years ago

I DISAGREE BECAUSE CPP THE NKRUMAIST PARTY ABHORS ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

I DISAGREE BECAUSE CPP THE NKRUMAIST PARTY ABHORS ENTREPRENEURSHIP.
Dr Robert K Glah 10 years ago

Ghana Uni education curriculum should be connected to the economy and skills we need.

The current disconnect which breeds unemployment is waste of taxpayers money and our natural resources.

Ghana Uni education curriculum should be connected to the economy and skills we need.

The current disconnect which breeds unemployment is waste of taxpayers money and our natural resources.
Tekonline.org 10 years ago

Every intelligent discussion about curricula MUST include the ACTUAL examination of curricula.

I have gone to the KNUST website and copied the salient portions of the Computer Engineering curriculum (I simplified and left ...
read full comment

Every intelligent discussion about curricula MUST include the ACTUAL examination of curricula.

I have gone to the KNUST website and copied the salient portions of the Computer Engineering curriculum (I simplified and left out many courses to make the list suitable for posting).

As you can see below, students are provided with a wealth of information and skills, all geared towards modern trends in computer knowledge and applications. IT IS UP TO THE STUDENTS TO MAKE USE OF ALL THIS TO SOLVE SOCIETAL PROBLEMS:

COMPUTER ENGINEERING AT KNUST:

YEAR ONE

Semester One

Technical Drawing
Communication Skills I
Basic Mechanics
Applied Electricity
Environmental Studies
Engineering Technology

Semester Two

Calculus with Analysis
Introduction to IT
Basic Electronics
Applied Thermodynamics
Electrical Eng. Drawing
Electrical Machines
Communication Skills II
---------------------------------------------------

YEAR TWO

Semester One

Differential Equations
C Programming
Analog Communication Systems
Semiconductor Devices
Circuit Theory
Computer Eng. Lab. I
Literature in English I
Elective:
French for Communication I
Introductory Economics I
Accounts I

Semester Two

Calculus of Several Variables
Data Structures & Algorithms
Digital Systems
Electromagnetic Fields
Elect. Measurement & Instrument
Literature in English II
Elective:
French for Communication II
Introductory Economics II
Accounts II
---------------------------------------------------

YEAR THREE

Semester One

Probability and Statistics
Numerical Methods
Linear Electronic Circuits
Object Oriented Programming
Microprocessors
Information Theory
Elective
Classical Control Systems
Interaction of Radiation with Matter

Semester Two

Embedded Systems
Digital Computer Design
Operating Systems
Introduction to Software Eng.
Database & Information Retrieval
Computer Eng. Lab. II
Embedded Systems
Digital Computer Design
Operating Systems
Introduction to Software Eng.
Physiology I
Anatomy I
--------------------------------------------------

YEAR FOUR

Semester One

Industrial Econ & Management
Project I:
Computer Networking
Computer Architecture
Elective:
Computer Graphics
Distributed Computing
Artificial Intelligence

Engineering Econ & Management
Project I
Computer Networking
Medical Instrumentation I
Elective
Computer Graphics
Healthcare Technology Management

Semester Two

Entrepreneurship Development
Fault Diagnosis & Failure Tolerance
Digital Signal Processing
Introduction to VLSI
Compiler Construction
Software Engineering
Secure Network Systems
Computer Vision & Robotics
Medical Engineering
Medical Instrumentation II
Health System Development
--------------------------------------------------
MARCUS AMPADU 10 years ago

Compare with the Computer Science courses offered at Georgia Tech, University of Maryland, Morgan State University or MIT. Go to their websites.

Compare with the Computer Science courses offered at Georgia Tech, University of Maryland, Morgan State University or MIT. Go to their websites.
Tekonline.org 10 years ago

....and you would find that the differences are in just the socioeconomic backgrounds. Furthermore, you would be surprised a KNUST-educated professor at one of those Georgia Tech lecture rooms !!!

....and you would find that the differences are in just the socioeconomic backgrounds. Furthermore, you would be surprised a KNUST-educated professor at one of those Georgia Tech lecture rooms !!!
Tekonline.org 10 years ago

Perhaps you should add also the Kenyan curriculum to your list:

The entrepreneurs of Africa's Silicon Savannah

GEOFFREY YORK

NAIROBI — The Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Sep. 02 2013, 6:46 PM EDT

The fo ...
read full comment

Perhaps you should add also the Kenyan curriculum to your list:

The entrepreneurs of Africa's Silicon Savannah

GEOFFREY YORK

NAIROBI — The Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Sep. 02 2013, 6:46 PM EDT

The four-story mall on Ngong Road was once crammed with exclusive shops for Nairobi’s wealthy elite, selling imported furniture, golf clubs, designer clothes, Range Rover parts and $600 saucepans for the nouveaux riches of an unequal society.

But over the past three years, the building has been transformed into a symbol of a new and stronger African economy. The luxury boutiques have quietly shut down and moved out, replaced by tenants with much less glitz but a lot more creativity: young Kenyan software designers and IT specialists with a mission to innovate.

In a warren of backroom labs in the former mall, now rebranded as the iHub, you can find one of their most ambitious creations: a world-class supercomputer, just the second to be built in Africa. And in the same room, designers have been tinkering with a super-tough Internet modem that could become Africa’s contribution to keeping Internet access alive in the most arduous conditions.

Kenya’s fast-growing IT sector, dubbed the Silicon Savannah, already accounts for 5 per cent of the country’s GDP. The Kenyan government is aiming to boost that share to 35 per cent. Its technology exports have soared from $16-million to $360-million in the past decade. Much of these exports are born in tech hubs and incubators such as the iHub – one of six such hubs in Kenya and more than 50 that now exist in at least 20 countries across Africa.

As the tech boom gains strength, multinational companies like Google, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia and IBM have flocked to Kenya to set up research labs or to support incubators such as iHub, where more than 50 startup companies have emerged since the hub’s launch in 2010. The iHub has become an icon of African geekdom, attracting more than 11,000 techie members to work and brainstorm ideas over endless cups of what its website boasts is “the best coffee in Nairobi.”

The boom was originally fuelled by cellphones. Africa’s mobile connection rates, among the cheapest in the world, have attracted more than 650-million cellphone subscriptions, with the total projected to reach a billion by 2015. In a continent where smartphones are outselling computers by four to one, the young programmers at the iHub and similar labs have created thousands of mobile apps, including innovative mobile-money services that have become so successful that 17-million Kenyans today use them.

But now, significantly, Kenya’s tech sector is shifting to a new level, venturing for the first time into hardware such as the supercomputer and the modem. It’s challenging the stereotypes about Africa, showcasing the smarts of the iHub’s tech entrepreneurs and potentially generating new revenue sources.

“In Africa and the Middle East, there was no supercomputer within the world’s top 500 machines,” said Jimmy Gitonga, one of the iHub managers who led the supercomputer project with help from Google and Intel. “Our achievement was that we debunked the myth and showed that we can do it.”

Since the supercomputer’s completion in January this year, the iHub entrepreneurs have worked on ways to gain commercial revenue from its data and research capacity. “Ultimately all of this information can be sold to the private sector,” said Phares Kariuki, another co-creator of the supercomputer.

“If you can give them more accurate and timely information than the government can provide, you can sell the economic data to banks or investors.”

After years of focusing on mobile apps in the early stages of the IT boom, it seemed natural for Kenya’s tech entrepreneurs to switch into manufacturing. “Increasingly you need a hardware component to make sure that your software solutions are complete,” Mr. Gitonga said.

The latest example is BRCK, a Kenyan-invented modem, billed as the “backup generator for the Internet.” Shaped like a brick but smaller and lighter, the $200 device provides a steady supply of power and connectivity to keep you linked to the Internet for hours at a time, regardless of electricity or network disruptions.

Its exterior shell is tough enough to withstand African dust and humidity, it can switch seamlessly among different Wi-Fi and cellphone networks, it can serve as a hotspot for up to 20 computers, and it can operate on battery power for up to eight hours after a power failure.

The device was launched with a Kickstarter campaign in May, quickly raising $172,000 (U.S.) to finance its production, surpassing its $125,000 target. The first versions of BRCK are expected to be shipped to buyers in November.

“This was built by us, for us, because we already know the pain of what happens when the Net connection goes out,” said Erik Hersman, founder of the iHub and a leader of the BRCK project.

Its main advantage is to allow African coders to continue their sessions for hours at a time, even if their power or Internet connection is interrupted. But it could also be popular among backpackers and world travellers from North America to Asia. Its slogan: “If it works in Africa, it will work anywhere.”

The device was created by Ushahidi, a Nairobi-based tech company that gained fame for its crowd-sourced disaster-mapping software, pioneered in 2008 during Kenya’s post-election violence and later used in thousands of other crisis situations around the world.

In its next move, the iHub plans to create a permanent space for Kenyan hardware designers. “We’ve never lost this maker mentality in Africa – this community of roadside manufacturers with roadside ingenuity,” said Mr. Hersman, a Kenyan-raised American who is also a co-founder of Ushahidi.

“Since we already have a hyperactive software side – the guys who can do the coding – what will happen if we can merge these two together, if we mix the blood between these two groups and begin making things?”

Not everything has gone smoothly. Importing components for the BRCK and the supercomputer is often a tortuous ordeal, with Kenyan customs officials demanding outrageous duty payments, and with engineers sometimes forced to check the components onto their Nairobi-bound flights in plastic bins. Early attempts at building a BRCK prototype often resulted in melted plastic and warped exteriors. But the success of the Kickstarter campaign is a sign that the Kenyans will overcome those challenges.

Just three years after its launch, the iHub is running out of room for further expansion at the former shopping mall on Ngong Road. “At the beginning we thought the space was too big, but then we realized it was too small,” Mr. Gitonga said.

“We’re expanding every six months. We try to snap up every available space as much as we can.”
MARCUS AMPADU 10 years ago

Thank You very much.

Thank You very much.
Nyansasem 10 years ago

Sometimes, I don't know why you old folks that attended KNUST can't accept that the fact that you were fed with nonsense. The fact that, we see Tech Alumni doing well outside does not justify anything. The reason why they are ...
read full comment

Sometimes, I don't know why you old folks that attended KNUST can't accept that the fact that you were fed with nonsense. The fact that, we see Tech Alumni doing well outside does not justify anything. The reason why they are doing well is because they were moved from stupidity and unproductive soil and planted in better soil, where they were watered and nourished by people who apply their brains.

Just check the courses for semester two in Fourth year. How could a final year student be allowed to study 11...again 11 different courses for 3 or 4 months? HOW techonline? How many hours are spent on each course? And you think they will get something out of all these after they have left? Is it not the reason why it all of us have become -- Chew, pour, pass and forget?

Go and compare that courses being giving to computer science students in any America or Canadian school and let's see the stupidity in forcing these unnecessary courses on the students. I was not a computer science student but I took more than 2 or 3 courses with computer science students. It is was requirement courses for them.

In the 2nd semester, Year 3, I see that they are forcing them to physiology and Anatomy but these people have not done any biology or chemistry or physics. So let's say a guy who majored in tech and did not take Biology or Chemistry or Physics in SHS, how is this person going to get something from this course? Again, Chew, pour, pass and forget.

Do you see how silly it is? The fact that they are forced to swallow many courses in 3 or 4 months does not mean they are being fed well. Do you get that?
Dr Robert K Glah 10 years ago

Comprehensive education for a first degree at the age of 20-21 is good.

That level prepares students for post graduate research and application in industry and commerce.

Industrial connection and specialisation depends ...
read full comment

Comprehensive education for a first degree at the age of 20-21 is good.

That level prepares students for post graduate research and application in industry and commerce.

Industrial connection and specialisation depends on the direction of the Profs of research or project works of students.

Revise university curricular, says former VC

Read Comments .st0{display:none;fill:#14BDD3;} .st1{display:none;} .st2{display:inline;fill:#FC0F0F;} .st3{display:inline;fill:#FFFFFF;} .st4{display:inline;fill:none;stroke:#000000;stroke-width:6;stroke-miterlimit:10;} Comments (50)

Read Comments Comments (50)