Suame Magazine, KsTU work towards bridging industry-academia gap

The Suame Magazine Industrial Development Organisation (SMIDO) and the Kumasi Technical University have begun a series of engagements to strengthen the capacity of artisans to bridge the gap between industry and academia.

The expectation is that the two parties would soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding, which would allow members of Suame Magazine to be trained to scale up their productivity and maximise income.

Following from this the Executives of SMIDO have paid a familiarisation visit to the Faculty of Engineering and Technology of the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU) to strengthen that partnership.

They toured the University’s state-of-the-art workshop at its Adako Jachie Campus to appreciate how they could use technology to improve their work.

The visit also provided the opportunity for both parties to exchange ideas and best practices in academia and industry while leveraging on technology to improve service delivery.

Dr Prince Owusu-Ansah, the Vice Dean of the Faculty, said the collaboration would enhance the rate of delivery and increase productivity of the artisans with new equipment and technology being at their disposal.

“Bringing them here will enlighten them and open their minds to the new development in the industry in the 21st century,” he said.

He said as part of plans to sign the MoU, it was important to expose the artisans to the facility, which was a one-stop centre for automotive, electronics, milling and machine design to appreciate how the collaboration would inure to their benefit.

Dr Owusu-Ansah said the partnership would lead to the local production of many items on a large scale, with the long term effect being an improvement on the national economy.

The initiative also feeds into the Education Ministry’s vision to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education to enhance the industrialisation drive, where the informal sector plays a key role.

Ms Elizabeth Sekyi-Whyte, the University Relations Officer, said members of SMIDO already had the skill but the partnership would further sharpen it.

She said embracing technology was important to enable the artisans to meet the sophisticated needs of the modern client and called on both parties to sustain the partnership.