The Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has stressed the need for the citizenry to build consensus on educational issues, to enhance sustainable development.

She indicated that the nation was at the crossroads of a very critical stage in her development aspirations, urging Ghanaians to, therefore, put aside political differences and chart the path to determine the future of education.

“We need to collectively, passionately and aggressively without political considerations, discuss and evolve a road map for the future of education”, she said.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang, who was addressing the 49th Congregation of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) at the Great Hall, Kumasi, emphasized that, “education must be seen as a whole, that to think of education in segments is to miss the point”.

The Minister, a former and first woman Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, observed that it was about time that stakeholders, once again worked assiduously to address the numerous issues confronting education - from the basic to the tertiary, and to the application of knowledge so acquired or created.

“In this way, I humbly submit, our development agenda, our socio-economic emancipation, and our scientific and technological advancement will be, as it should be driven by our system of education”, she prayed.

The Congregation saw a total of 8, 179 students graduating from the six KNUST Colleges.

Out of this number, 41 candidates passed out with PhDs, the highest number of Doctorate Degrees to be awarded in the University’s history.

Nine of the Doctorate degree awardees were beneficiaries of the Vice-Chancellor’s Consortium Initiative, a programme intended to help Faculty members aspire for excellence in their teaching careers.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang reminded the authorities that universities exist ed to find solutions to national problems, and as such, it was necessary for them to reduce identified wastage, and increase efficiency through better utilization of resources, as well as proposing new ways of developing appropriate structures.

She affirmed the government’s determination to support tertiary education to help produce the critical manpower base needed to spearhead Ghana’s development agenda.

Prof William Otoo Ellis, Vice of the KNUST, said as part of efforts towards leveraging the advantages of industry-academia linkages, the University continued to establish and expand on its partnership with strategic industrial partners.

The University, he said, had as a result, signed agreements with the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, French Embassy and other corporate and academic institutions to forge professional linkages in the areas of faculty exchange, joint research, organization of seminars and student internships.

Prof Ellis said the University in collaboration with the Cape Coast, Ho and Takoradi Polytechnics had also initiated the processes of running specific programmes, leading to the award of Master of Technology Degrees in Agricultural, Automobile, Civil, Refrigeration and Air Condition Engineering.

This is in line with the government’s vision of upgrading some Polytechnics into Technical Universities in the near future.