Overview
The Department of Vocational and Technical Education was established in 1993 through the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Ghana, with the vision of training qualified educators in Vocational and Technical Education to take up teaching and supervisory roles in Education and the Service Industry. Through Entrepreneurial training, students also learn how to manage entrepreneurial businesses and become entrepreneurs. Since March 2010, the Department has been one of the UNESCO-UNEVOC centres for disseminating information on developments in Vocational and Technical Education.
Currently, the Department houses four skills-based programmes and provides hands-on training to students. The programmes are:
- Bachelor of Education in Home Economics focusing on two elective areas, namely Food and Nutrition and Clothing and Textiles, with Family Resource Management as a core area. It also offers Master and Doctor of Philosophy (Home Economics) with specialization in Food and Nutrition, Family Resource Management and Clothing and Textiles. The Department started a sandwich programme in M.Ed. (Home Economics) for the 2013/2014 academic year.
- Bachelor of Education in Communication Design
- Bachelor of Fine Art Education (Painting and Sculpture options)
- Bachelor of Construction Technology Education
With the global trend in unemployment, the Department deemed it important to add Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management to the courses offered in the Department. These prepare students adequately to set up their own business units and be gainfully employed, rather than relying on the Government or Private Organizations for employment after completing their undergraduate and graduate programmes. Students write Business Plans and develop their businesses which they run alongside their studies. The Department is still looking at other areas in its restructuring effort to help improve existing programmes to meet contemporary trends and to make students more employable after graduating from the University.
The Department has units that provide Nutritious meals to staff and students at two different locations on the University campus. These offer training grounds for our Food and Nutrition students to learn on the job. There is also a clothing production Unit that produces academic gowns for the University and offers training to our Clothing and Textiles students in specialized areas. To foster cooperation with institutions and bodies outside the University, the Units within the Department organize Exhibitions and Fashion Shows that bring together second-cycle Institutions within Cape Coast that offer Home Economics and other production Associations to make them know more about the Department and Vocational Education in general.