President John Dramani Mahama has announced a GH¢100 million seed capital package for Ghana’s 10 technical universities as part of government’s commitment to strengthening science, technology and industrial development in the country.
The seed capital, which will be captured in the 2027 Budget Statement, is expected to support research, innovation, infrastructure expansion and entrepreneurship development in the technical universities established a decade ago.
President Mahama made the announcement at the Fourth Applied Research Conference of Technical Universities of Ghana held at Takoradi Technical University under the theme: “Advancing TVET Education for Innovation, Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development.”
The President was accompanied by the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu.
The announcement followed an appeal by the Chairman of Vice-Chancellors of Technical Universities, Prof. Adibkrah, who drew the President’s attention to the fact that since the conversion of the polytechnics into technical universities 10 years ago, the institutions had not received any seed capital support from the state.
Prof. Appiah Adinkrah who is also the Vice chancellor of Sunyani Technical university appealed to the President to consider establishing a seed fund to strengthen the operations and research capacity of the technical universities.
Responding to the appeal, President Mahama assured the universities of government’s commitment to supporting technical and vocational education as a strategic pillar of Ghana’s industrial transformation agenda.
Addressing participants, the President underscored the critical role technical universities must play in Ghana’s industrial development, stressing that institutions of higher learning should become centres of innovation and enterprise creation rather than remain detached academic establishments.
“Industry must not view our technical universities as distant academic institutions or ivory towers. Instead, it must see them as partners in production, innovation and competitiveness,” he stated.
President Mahama urged technical universities to become more entrepreneurial and solution-driven, with research outcomes increasingly leading to patents, prototypes, technology transfer and commercial products capable of driving economic growth.
“The future will not reward nations that merely consume technology developed elsewhere. It will reward those that innovate, adapt, produce and compete,” he said.
According to him, government’s investment in technical universities should not be seen merely as expenditure on education, but rather as a long-term industrial and economic strategy aimed at positioning Ghana competitively in the global knowledge economy.
The President also called on vice-chancellors, lecturers, researchers and students to embrace innovation and entrepreneurship as central to the country’s development agenda.
“Students themselves must recognize that they are not merely being trained for employment, but for leadership in building Ghana’s future economy,” he added.
President Mahama further disclosed that government’s new STEM-focused education policy would integrate science, technology, artificial intelligence and robotics into the curriculum from kindergarten through to secondary education.
He explained that the policy seeks to create a stronger pipeline of students pursuing science, engineering and technology-related programmes at the tertiary level.
The President noted that government was already deploying resources through the restored Ghana Education Trust Fund to expand infrastructure, establish modern laboratories and workshops, and support applied research systems within tertiary institutions.
He also announced that the National Research Fund had become operational to support indigenous research and the commercialization of innovations.
In addition, President Mahama revealed plans to establish a new Savannah University of Science and Technology in the northern part of the country to expand access to science and technology education.
The Fourth Applied Research Conference brought together researchers, academics, industrial players and policymakers to discuss the role of applied research and technical education in national development.
