ADRRI JOURNALS ( E-ISSN: 2343-6662 VOL. 27 ... · programmes were introduced to provide the much needed academic progressions for HND graduates. The Bachelor of Technology in Textiles

AFRICA DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ADRRI) JOURNAL

E-ISSN: 2343-6662

VOL. 27, NO. 9(4), JULY, 2018

PUBLISHED BY AFRICA DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE

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ADRRI JOURNALS (www.adrri.org)

E-ISSN: 2343-6662 VOL. 27, No. 9(4), July, 2018

The Impact of Academia–Industry Collaboration on Quality Of

Training in the Ghanaian Textiles Institutions of Higher Learning

E. K. Howard

Department of Industrial Art, College of Art and Built Environment, Kwame Nkrumah

University of Science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana

Corresponding email: [email protected]

Available Online: 31st July, 2018

URL: https://www.journals.adrri.org/

[Cite article as: Howard, E. K. (2018). The Impact of Academia–Industry Collaboration on Quality of

Training in the Ghanaian Textiles Institutions of Higher Learning. Africa Development and Resources

Research Institute Journal, Ghana: Vol. 27, No. 9(4), Pp. 1-20, E-ISSN: 2343-6662, 31st July, 2018.]

Abstract Studies have shown that a gap exists between the quality of graduates and the demands of

industry. Consequently, training institutions and employers have accepted the need to bridge the

gap in the form of attachments, internships, seminars, workshops and industrial visits. However,

there are challenges that impede effective academia-industry collaboration. This study

qualitatively employs content analysis and multiple case study methods to assess the extent of

collaboration between the textile industry and academia. It evaluates industrial

attachment/internship programmes, the quality of training in the academic institutions with

respect to relevance of qualification of lecturers, infrastructure/facilities available and

curriculum/course content, which are the main engines for effective transfer of knowledge and

competency skills to equip graduates to fit better in industry. The study revealed that, whereas the

intake of students in the academic institutions considerably keeps increasing, the local textile

industry is fast dwindling in terms of numbers, sizes, output capacities and infrastructural

developments. Moreover, the contents of curricula of the training institutions, although

exhaustive, are not job specific to meet specific needs of industry. This leads to a situation where

graduates leave school knowing bits of everything but mastering none. Evidently, the institutions

lack the requisite facilities and qualified lecturers to impart the right practical knowledge and

skills to trainees. The study recommends an industry-oriented curriculum model which prioritises

stakeholders’ requirements and needs as a surest solution to bridge the gap between industry and

academia to train competent graduates for industry.

Keywords: textiles, academia-industry collaboration, industry-oriented curriculum, quality

teaching, competency skills.

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INTRODUCTION

In recent times, the textile industry in Ghana has gone through some difficult times

resulting in the shutting down of production lines of most of the factories. Empirical

evidence have shown that a number of challenges confront the textile factories which have

crippled their operations leading to low productivity, high rate of redundancy of

workers, increase in unemployment rate and closure of most of the factories (Egu,2009).

MOTI (2005) and Quartey (2006) confirm that many workers have been made redundant

as a result of the shut downs. The situation is having adverse repercussions not only on

the country’s economy but also on the institutions of higher learning such as the

Universities and the Polytechnics that offers Textiles related courses; as the fate of

graduates from such institutions ‘hangs in a balance’ (Howard, 2013). Stakeholders blame

the government for unfavourable policies and lack of commitment in the sub sector. There

is also lack of collaboration between industry and academia which creates knowledge and

skills gap to the detriment of the trainees. Mpairwe (2010) as cited in Bukaliya (2012)

asserts that a gap really exist between quality of graduates produced and what the

industry demands. To address the challenge, the training institutions and employers have

recognized the need to bridge the gap in the form of attachments, internships, seminars,

workshops and industrial visits for both students and lecturers.

One of the engines for accelerated and sustained economic advancement is proper

technical/ vocational education of which textiles education is a major component (Annoh,

1992). Successive Governments in Ghana have accepted that education should result in

the formation of well balanced individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills, values,

attitudes and aptitudes to enable them become functional and productive citizens

(Mensah, 2006). In line with this, as part of the accelerated development plan for

education in 1951, the government placed high premium on technical/vocational

education with the establishment of secondary/technical schools, polytechnics and

technological universities where the needed technical skills for controlling the vital organs

of national development and economy could be produced (Baffour, 2000). The education


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reform of 2007 also placed much emphasis on technical/vocational education with textiles

being a major component.

Textiles education is offered at both second cycle and tertiary levels of education in

Ghana. In 2007, the polytechnic law was revised into ‚the Polytechnic Act‛, which

confirms Polytechnics as public tertiary institutions in Ghana. The major objective of

Polytechnic/ Technical University education in Ghana is to develop the middle and higher

level man power to the highest standards for the country’s needs especially in the fields of

manufacturing, commerce, science, technology, applied social science and applied arts. In

addition to these, Polytechnics are to provide opportunities for skills developments,

applied research and publication of research findings (Baffour, 2000).

Though the textiles programme at the Higher National Diploma (HND) level has run for

nearly two decades, current trends in the industry requires that HND graduates be given

further training to enable them perform more efficiently in contemporary industry. After

15 years of education at the HND level, it has become necessary for the Takoradi Technical

University, for example, to move up the educational ladder to satisfy these needs and

provide opportunities for further studies. The Bachelor of Technology (BTech)

programmes were introduced to provide the much needed academic progressions for

HND graduates. The Bachelor of Technology in Textiles is therefore one of a number of

top up programmes designed for HND graduates and holders of similar certificates and

diplomas. The major objectives of the programme as spelt out in the BTech Textiles

Syllabus (2010) are to provide an opportunity for HND graduates and people with similar

qualifications to acquire advanced knowledge, skills and academic status in Textiles and

Fashion Design and Technology, provide specialised skills to HND graduates to meet

contemporary manpower needs at managerial levels in industry, equip the graduates with

enhanced entrepreneurial skills to enable them establish their own business ventures, up-

dates analytical techniques of the graduates to enable them solve modern technological

problems , develop and up-date their supervisory and management skills in a rapidly


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changing environment, enhance the Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

skills of the HND graduates and make them more suitable to meet the modern industrial

challenges and position the graduates to pursue advanced studies.

Apparently, the programme is designed to train students to attain theoretical and practical

competencies that will equip them with skills to serve as Textile Technologists, Weavers,

Spinners, Dyers, Printers, Launderers and Dry-Cleaners, Garment Manufacturers, Fashion

Designers, Interior Decorators, Sales Representatives, Textile Designers, Private Business

Executives, Quality Controllers, Managers and Mill Supervisors of Textiles Production

Units (BTech Textiles Syllabus, 2010).

The Textiles programme of KNUST in the Department of Industrial Art (DIA, 2010), was

created in 1964 with the main aim of producing graduate artists and Art teachers for

schools and colleges. The programme has expanded and is now a blend of Textile Design,

Technology, Management and Fashion. Textiles and Fashion Design are two separate but

interrelated disciplines too broad to be contained in one syllabus. Specialised areas have

not been designed for these two fields of study, resulting in students being overburdened

in an attempt to cover all these areas for a degree certificate in Textiles. The result is that

graduates leave school knowing bits of everything but mastering none. This makes it

difficult for them to market themselves on the job market which has become very

competitive more than ever. Apparently, the current needs of the country and trends in

the global textile and fashion industry demand training of specialised manpower to

handle the design and technology of production of textile and fashion goods. It therefore

becomes economically prudent to train graduates with specialized skills to achieve

optimum output.

The aims and objectives of the KNUST textile programme (DIA, 2010) are to produce

technologically competent graduates in the field of textiles and fashion design. The

programme again seeks to prepare students for careers in research development and

technological aspects of textiles. It is also designed to meet the demands of fashion and


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allied industries, build a high fashion (couture) industry compactable with international

standards to expand the export promotion programme under the President’s Special

Initiatives (PSI) as well as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). It also aimed

at offering outreach programmes and workshops in textiles and fashion.

Inferring from the various curricula of the academic institutions, it could be established

that the textile programmes at the university level focus on producing technologically

competent graduates with specialised skills to handle the design and technology of textiles

production. This is towards meeting the needs of the country’s textile and fashion

industry and trends in global textile and fashion practice. Evidently, the curricular of the

various levels of textiles programmes in Ghana placed much emphasis on skill acquisition

and technological development aimed at producing qualified graduates to satisfy the

manpower needs of the country. With these broad objectives, graduates are expected to fit

and perform well in industry to contribute their quota towards the development of the

textiles subsector and the country at large.

However, despite the number of graduates that the textile institutions produce every year

into the world of work, empirical studies (MOTI, 2005; Quartey, 2006; Egu, 2009;

Abdallah, 2010; Howard, 2013) have shown that the challenges of the textile industry

continues to escalate. Although the challenges of the sector have been attributed to the

large extent to a competitive market with unfavourable free trade policies (Osei-Ntiri et al,

2013), the textile industry blames the academic institutions for producing incompetent

graduates as they are not given the opportunity to provide inputs in curriculum

development and review in order to make it relevant to industrial practices. The academic

institutions also apportion the blame to the industry for lack of cooperation on their part

to admit students for industrial attachment which aims at equipping trainees with the

needed industrial experience to fit into industry (Howard, 2013). This has been a

contentious issue among the two entities.


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The primary objective of this study, therefore, is to assess the extent of collaboration

between the textile institutions and industries with respect to quality of training in terms

of content of curricula, qualification of lecturers, available training facilities, involvement

of industry in the training process in the form of attachment, internship, research and

development, among others. Questions formulated to find answers to the objectives were:

What linkage programmes exist between the textiles institutions and industries and to

what extent are they being implemented? How relevant are the contents of the curricula of

textiles programmes of the academic institutions to industry with respect to current best

practices? Are the qualifications and specializations of the academic staff in the textile

institutions relevant to their areas of teaching? To what extent are available

infrastructure/facilities for training at the academic institutions affecting quality of

teaching? Significantly, this research paper establishes the calibre/quality of graduates that

the institutions are producing vis-a-vis their performance in industry to direct policy

decisions by stakeholders for sustainable development of textiles education and industry

in Ghana.

METHODOLOGY

The study used the qualitative research approach employing a case study and content

analysis methods. Four (4) textile institutions, three (3) textile manufacturing firms and

one (1) government institution were purposefully selected to gather data for comparative

analysis. The quality of training in the academic institutions with specific reference to

qualification of lecturers, infrastructure and facilities available for training,

curriculum/course content were evaluated through content analysis to ascertain their

relevance to their respective programmes of study. Interviews, observations and content

analysis were the main instruments for data collection. Using the purposive sampling

technique, key personnel from Tex-Styles Ghana Limited (TGL), Akosombo Textiles

Limited (ATL), Volta Star Textiles Limited (VSTL) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry

(MoTI) as well as lecturers from Takoradi and Kumasi Technical Universities, KNUST and


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UEW were selected and interviewed to establish the extent of collaboration between

academia and industry with respect to attachment and internship programmes and the

challenges they are confronted with.

In each of the eight institutions, five respondents were selected making a total sample size

of forty (40) respondents for the study. Students on internship at the respective factories,

infrastructure and facilities in the selected academic institutions and mode of teaching

were observed and findings recorded and discussed in support of the interview responses

to draw concrete conclusions and make feasible recommendations.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The study observed that many textile students experience the frustration of not getting the

required practical skills for their desired career before leaving school. This is as a result of

the lack of collaboration between the institutions of higher learning and the industries that

are expected to team up to implement a competency-based curriculum with the relevant

opportunities that will help students acquire the needed industrial skills during the course

of their studies. This situation has been created as a result of a myriad of challenges that

confront the domestic textile industry. Due to these challenges, they are unable to admit

the expected number of students for attachments and internships which, according to

Ruiz (2009), are key training activities in helping students to gain industrial experience.

The result is that, the study of textiles of the institutions of higher learning in the country

has become theoretically oriented which considerably affects the performance of their

products on the job market. This, coupled with the limited textile factories, has rendered

many textile graduates unemployed with others diverting into banks, teaching and trade

and commerce other than practising in the specific fields they were trained for.

The study found that, college education in Ghana traditionally emphasizes on theoretical

knowledge, but industry demands practical skills. However, since one of the major

expectations of higher education is to prepare students for future careers, the researcher


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opines that with regard to textile education, more emphasis must be placed on practical

skills by translating theories into practice.

Linkage programmes of the textiles institutions and industry

The ATL administrative Manager and the VSTL Technical Director in response to

questions regarding collaboration between industry and the academic institutions

indicated that the academic institutions have not given them the platform to provide the

necessary industrial inputs in their curriculum which to them is the best way of ensuring

training of graduates with high technical know-how who will fit well into industry.

Both ATL administrative Manager and the VSTL Technical Director argued that, as much

as their inputs were of paramount importance in curriculum development of the academic

institutions, their presence is of equal importance to serve as committee members in the

development and revision of curriculum for both old and new programmes. According to

the Health and Safety Manager of TGL, key players from the textile industry can serve as

visiting lecturers (adjuncts) to present seminars, lectures, give technical demonstrations to

both students and lecturers, and provide technical advice to the academic institutions

offering textiles. Contrary to what they perceived as the best practices in the world of

textiles, they argue that the academic institutions do not see the need for such linkages

and have not involved them in academic affairs.

However, lecturers and instructors of the selected universities and the polytechnics

interacted with disputed this allegation with the view that, the textiles factories rather

have not been opening up to them. They therefore lamented on the difficulties they go

through in getting students to embark on industrial attachments, field trips and

internships. They also express their dissatisfaction on the fact that the factory authorities

sometimes engage the students (mostly females) on attachment to work as sales personnel

at their sales outlets other than placing them on relevant sections that will provide them

with the needed competency skills. Their argument is that if the students wanted to be


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trained as sales personnel, they would have pursued marketing or sales related

programmes at the university and not textiles with its core mandate to train students to

acquire practical skills on the textile manufacturing plant.

It is evident based on the forgoing submissions by the major players of the industry and

academia that, the textile industry and the academic institutions appear to be operating on

separate pathway with each entity minding its own business with little collaboration

between them. This is adversely affecting the quality of training and subsequently the

graduates produced by the academic institutions. The situation goes to buttress the

assertion that a gap really exist between the quality of graduates produced and what the

market demands. In view of this, training institutions and employers have accepted the

need to bridge the gap in the form of attachments, internships, seminars, workshop and

industrial visits (Mpairwe, 2010 as cited in Bukaliya, 2012). However, despite the

advocacy for partnership between academia and industry and ostensibly acceptance of

this call, the study found that there is no formal or properly structured linkage

programmes drawn and implemented by the two entities towards effective training of

students. The researcher strongly believes that effective partnership in this direction is one

of the best ways of bridging the gap and improving the quality of graduates produced by

the institutions for the benefit of the industries, since the academic institutions lack the

requisite training facilities to produce the kind of graduates that the industry requires.

In other to achieve the aim of training middle and higher level personnel for the country’s

needs, the Takoradi and Kumasi Technical Universities make room for industrial

attachments in their Fashion and Textiles studies programmes aimed at providing

students with the needed industrial experience. A whole semester is allocated for

industrial attachment to equip students with the requisite practical skills for industries.

The situation is different with the universities offering textiles. The study observed that,

the universities offering textile related courses, with specific reference to KNUST and

UEW, do not make provisions in their programmes for attachments but occasionally


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embark on field trips and industrial tours which usually takes a day to maximum of 3

days to provide students with first hand information on industrial practices pertaining to

their field of study. They also permit students to go on voluntarily attachments during

vacations bur this is not assessable or graded.

Arguably, a day industrial visit is woefully inadequate to equip students with the needed

industrial experience to enable them better fit into industry after their studies. Voluntary,

attachments does not give equal opportunities to students and there are no appropriate

strategies for effective training during such attachments. It was however noted that, the

greatest challenge facing the authorities of the academic institutions is the difficulty in

getting students to go on attachments as the authorities of the textile factories have been

reluctant to admit students due to lack of collaboration between the industry and

academia.

A comparative analysis of the situation at the textile factories and the academic

institutions revealed that, whereas the intake of students in the academic institutions

keeps increasing considerably, the local textile industry is fast declining in terms of

numbers, sizes , output and infrastructural development amidst operational and external

challenges. It is however practically impossible to allow more than 20 students to be

admitted in one factory to do industrial attachments since their presence in the factory

requires managers and technicians of specific department to play a double role by

attending to the students as well as carrying out their daily duties satisfactorily. This

according to the Personal Manager of ATL affects the operations of the factories in terms

of productivity since there is no well-structured programme developed to ensure smooth

linkage between the industry and academia.

It is apparent that, instead of tapping the benefits that linkage programmes offer academia

and industry in training students, the situation is rather the opposite and for that matter,

stakeholders do no value the graduates that pass out from the academic institutions.

However, considering the numerous benefits that linkage programmes offer to


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management and stakeholders of academic institutions and industries, it is practically and

economically prudent for both entities to collaborate strongly for effective training of

students. These benefits among others include; evaluation of students for full-time

employment upon graduation, providing employers with access to quality candidates,

students’ contributions of new ideas to industry, increase in productivity, helping

business to promote their line of work, helping students to develop their communication

and interpersonal skills within the context of work, and job experience (Astin et al., 2000;

Ruiz, 2009). These are keys to sustainable developments of both the industry and

academia.

Relevance of curricula/syllabi of programmes of the educational institutions to industry

The study revealed that, the textiles programme offered at the tertiary level, in theory, are

generally relevant to the industry which go to buttress the assertion by Amankwah (2007)

that, special emphases are being put on the study of Technical and Vocational Education

at the tertiary level with the hope that, relevant skills will be acquired to enable graduates

from such institutions contribute to the social-economic development of the nation.

However, with exception of the BTech programme of Takoradi Technical University

where students have options for specialization, the study identified that the course

contents of the programmes at Kumasi and Takoradi Technical Universities, KNUST and

UEW are too general to produce graduates with specific expertise to satisfy specific needs

of industry. Table 1 gives a summary of programmes and courses of the various academic

institutions that run textiles.

With respect to Takoradi and Kumasi Technical Universities, it is evident that

programmes like HND in Textiles and Bachelor of Technology in Textiles and Fashion are

offered. At the University level, UEW runs Bachelor of Education in Textiles and MTech in

Fashion and Textiles, KNUST offers Bachelor of Industrial Art (Textiles option) and

Master of Fine Art in Textile Design. It is evident from Table 1 that all the programmes of


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study in these academic institutions make provision for CAD to equip students with

computer skills for design which has become indispensable in the global design industry.

Table 1: Textile programmes and courses in the country’s selected higher institutions

Institution Programme Relevant courses/subjects

Kumasi

Technical

University

HND Fashion and

Textiles Studies

Pattern Technology, Garment Technology, Fashion

Drawing and Illustration, Textiles, Creative Design

and Working Drawings, Millinery and Dress

Accessories, Clothing Production Technology,

History of Fashion, Beauty Care and Culture,

Fashion Marketing and Merchandizing, Industrial

Attachment, Business Law and Projects.

Takoradi

Technical

University

HND Textiles

BTech in Textiles

Fibres and yarns, fabric construction, chemical

processing, fabric decoration, fabric finishing, CAD.

Option 1-Fibre and Yarn Spinning Technology.

Option 2- Weaving and Maintenance Processes

Option 3- Dyeing and Printing Technology

Option 4-Garment Manufacture and Fabric

Decoration

UEW Bachelor of Education

in Textiles

MTech in Fashion and

Textiles

Textile design, weaving, textile printing technology,

fibre production, yarn manufacture, CAD,

alongside educational courses.

Textile design, fashion, garment construction,

research methodology, computer education, quality

control.

KNUST Bachelor of Industrial

Art (Textiles option)

Textile design, textile printing, textile testing, non-

wovens, synthetic fibres, regenerated fibres, fabric

structure, dyes and dyeing processes, weaving

calculation, management and entrepreneurial skills,

seminar, knitting technology, weaving mechanism,

cotton spinning, computer aided design (CAD).

Master of Fine Art

(Textile Design)

textile design, fabric studies, textile printing

technology, study tour, independent study,

research and thesis writing, research methodology,

computer aided design (CAD), seminar

Source: Field Survey (2014)


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With specific reference to KNUST, programmes of study make room for other relevant

courses to be offered which go beyond the scope of the domestic textile industry whose

operation is limited to conventional power loom weaving. Courses like knitting

technology, non-woven, synthetic fibre, regenerated fibres and advanced weaving

mechanisms with much emphasis on shuttleless loom systems that have become very

instrumental and economical in the global fabric manufacturing processes are dealt with.

This is in connection with global trends of textile manufacturing which have seen

tremendous developments with innovations where conventional power looms that work

on crank shaft and cam shedding mechanisms with limited design capabilities as well as

the traditional method of weft insertion that employs shuttle, have almost been replaced

by newer methods that are based on the principles of shutleless loom mechanisms (Lord

and Mohammed, 1982).

Evidently, the programmes of the academic institution although exhaustive in content are

not job specific to meet specific needs of the industry. The courses studied are too many

with little or no specialization and which results in a situation where students do a lot of

work but master non at the end of their studies. This buttresses the assumption that,

specialised areas have not been designed for the textile programmes of the universities

which make students overburdened in an attempt to cover all courses for a degree

certificate in Textile Design. This leads to a situation where graduates leave school

knowing bits of everything but mastering none and for that matter find it difficult to

market themselves on the job market (DIA, 2010). Again, no priority is made in the

programme for traditional or indigenous textiles production, but rather emphasis is

placed on factory textile production.

Obviously, the textile market has become very competitive more than ever. For this reason

specialised manpower is what the country needs to handle the design and technology of

textile and fashion production in order to build a competitive edge against its offshore

counterpart for sustainable development. To this end, considering the myriad of

challenges confronting the large-scale textile factories and their inability to absorb


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appreciable number of graduates from the country’s textiles institutions, it makes

economic sense to review the curriculum of the various textiles programmes to make

room for specializations to address specific textile production needs. There should be

specializations in indigenous textile production, textile technology, textile merchandising,

textile entrepreneurship, textile design, fashion design, among others. This will allow

students with interest in specializations other than generalized textile production to do so.

Such curriculum approach will encourage students to partner and go into textile SMEs

right after school without wasting time looking for seemingly non-existing and so called

white colour jobs. They may even employ few unskilled labourers which will help to

reduce the high rate of unemployment among the youth. This approach could also help to

promote sustainable development of tradition textiles since some students would opt for

specialisations in traditional textile productions.

Relevance of qualifications/ quality of academic staff of the textile institutions

One major set-back that the study identified with the country’s institutions of higher

learning where textiles is offered is that, most lecturers teaching textiles do not have

relevant masters degree in textiles. In the Kumasi and Takoradi Technical Universities, all

the lecturers teaching textiles hold Bachelor of Industrial Art (Textiles option) but have

masters’ degrees in other fields of study. The same was the case in the University of

Education, Winneba (UEW) where one out of the four textile lecturers holds Master of

Fine Art in Textile Design. It is only in KNUST that the study found six out of eight

lecturers holding relevant masters’ degrees in their subject areas.

Although, all the lecturers had masters’ degree which, traditionally, is the requisite

qualification for appointment of lecturers at the tertiary level of education in Ghana, the

current policy is that lecturers should have masters and/or preferably a doctorate degree

in the subject area. This implies that, the qualifications of the aforementioned lecturers are

not relevant for effective teaching of textiles at the tertiary level. It was noticed also that,

this had happened because, it is difficult for the institutions to get lecturers who have

specialised in textiles to handle textile courses effectively; hence, the institutions have no


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option than to appoint lecturers who have equivalent qualifications in those areas of

study. This situation according to Arkhurst (2011) is the biggest challenge that hinders

effective teaching of textiles at both the bachelor and masters’ degree levels. The

implication is that, even if the textile curriculum is relevant to industry, the mastery of

lecturers in facilitating in transfer of relevant knowledge and skills may be limited which

could affect their delivery. This submission is attested by Entwistle (1996) who argued

that, the assumption that anyone with a good degree will automatically be able to impart

knowledge to others is completely incorrect and in this respect instructors of any

programme are required to have a complete knowledge and understanding of what to

teach and the ability to teach it well to elicit their effectiveness.

Aside lecturers who were not having relevant masters’ degrees in their areas of

instruction, it was observed that some lecturers use the same lecture notes they obtained

during their bachelor degree studies at the universities in teaching at the polytechnics

(technical universities). This creates similarities in the programmes of the universities and

the polytechnics (technical university) though the two academic institutions have different

mandates with specific aims and objectives. This phenomenon was found to be due to lack

of clearly defined scope of curricula of the programmes of the universities and the

polytechnics and the fact that all the lecturers teaching HND and BTech textiles in the

Polytechnics had their first degrees from KNUST with masters in Art Education. Hence,

they tend to rely mainly on the knowledge and teaching materials acquired from the

university at the undergraduate level for teaching.

This trend is not only making the polytechnics to lose focus from their core mandate of

developing the middle level manpower, but also defeating the accelerated development

plan for education by government which places high importance on technical/vocational

education. With the emphasis on practice-based training, the technical/vocational

education was to serve as the basis for the introduction of secondary/technical schools,

polytechnic and technological universities to produce the much needed technical scholars

for national development (Baffour, 200). This situation of lost of focus in mandate is


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attributed to lack of qualified lecturers with relevant line of academic progression and

qualifications in the order of HND, BTech, MTech and DTech to teach in the polytechnics

and technical universities. In view of this, the onus is on the authorities of the academic

institutions to hire experienced lecturers who have relevant qualifications or training and

develop their staff through further studies in specialized areas so as to impact positively to

their students in ensuring that, they meet the core mandates of the polytechnic education.

The initiative will also equip students to perform creditably in industry after graduation to

help in the realisation of the general philosophy of the Ghanaian education which aims at

poverty alleviation and wealth creation (Mensah, 2006).

Availability of infrastructure and facilities for training at the textile academic

institutions

A survey of the selected academic institutions revealed lack of requisite facilities to train

students to acquire in-depth industrial knowledge and skill to fit into industry. Textile

manufacture is undoubtedly a technological process, which necessitates high technical

expertise and experience in industrial practice. In view of this, it is very essential for

students studying textiles to acquire in-depth industrial knowledge and skills for the job

market. State of the Art infrastructure and facilities therefore becomes very vital.

Observation made at the selected academic institutions clearly shows lack of

infrastructure and relevant industrial training facilities. Owing to this, the institutions rely

heavily on the local textile factories for attachments and field trips to provide students

with industrial experience. Ideally, with reference to the courses offered in each of the

programmes of study of the selected academic institution (Table 1), certain facilities are

indispensable for effective training of students. Courses such as fibres and fibre

production, yarn and fabric manufacturing, fabric decoration and finishing require

industrial textile facilities such as ginning and spinning facilities, automatic weaving and

knitting machines, printing and dyeing facilities, pre-treatment and after treatment

facilities and a well-equipped textile laboratory since the programmes prioritize industrial

textile production. However, of all the four academic institutions that the researcher

visited, it was obvious that, none of the aforementioned industrial facilities was available.


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At the KNUST, there was only one industrial jacquard, one dobby and one tappet loom

but all were beyond repairs though they are still in place for demonstrational purpose.

However, there were two weaving sheds with ten manually operated broadlooms and six

table looms which students used for their semester weaving project works. In addition to

these, there were two manual printing tables, two semi-automated copying systems

housed in two separate dark rooms with dyeing and printing studios, which serve

approximately 120 students every academic year. With reference to the Takoradi

Technical University, the study found eight broadlooms, three traditional looms, three

manual printing tables, two screen developing tables, a dyeing and printing studio which

serve an average of 100 students every academic year. At UEW, the Textile Section had

only one weaving studio with 10 broadlooms and two traditional looms, a printing studio

and a dark room which served about 120 students every academic year. Kumasi Technical

University on the other hand had only one broadloom with printing and dyeing studios.

Evidently there was no operational industrial facility in all the institutions studied for

effective training. The manually operated facilities found were woefully inadequate using

the students’ population at each institution as the basis for assertion. The implication is

that students from these institutions of higher learning may be vulnerable as far as

industrial experience is concerned and for that matter they will not find their feet in the

industry when given the opportunity. Arguing on the non-performance of the university

and polytechnic graduates, the Personnel Manager of ATL emphasized that, ATL prefers

recruiting and training SHS graduates for most of the technician positions on low salary

scale than employing university and polytechnic graduates who will otherwise be

retrained on the job but take huge salaries. This employment strategy of some textile

factories makes employment opportunities of most graduates very slim and for that

graduates struggle to get jobs after school.


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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Empirical studies have shown that a number of challenges confronted the textile factories

in Ghana leading to low productivity, high rate of redundancy and unemployment in the

textile sub-sector and with closure of most factories. The situation is having adverse effects

on the institutions of higher learning who are entrusted with the responsibility to train

students to acquire the requisite knowledge and skills to help in the operation and

management of the textile industry with priority on practical exposure and experience of

the working environment. Contrary to this expectation, the study concludes that the

textile graduates from the academic institutions pass out with little or no industrial

experience as a result of lack of collaboration between the industry and academia.

Industry and academia collaboration is expected to create the needed platform for

collaborative research to solve industrial problems, increase students’ access to industrial

experience through internship and attachment programmes, staff development

programmes, infrastructure developments, stakeholders’ inputs and participation in

academic curricula development to reflect industrial processes. These indicators are very

crucial for a holistic development of the textiles education in Ghana to produce qualified

and quality textile professionals to meet the manpower needs of the industry for

sustainable development.

To achieve this goal, it is recommended that collaboration between the textile industries

and the academic institutions be established and strengthened to develop and implement

a competency-based or an industry-oriented curriculum that will satisfy both

establishments with the focus on stakeholders’ requirements and needs. Government

represented by MoTI must initiate a mandatory industry-academia collaborative policy to

bring academia and industry together with government as a referee to champion this

course. Such policy direction will formalize, restructure and expand the existing linkage

programmes between academia and industry towards revitalization of the textiles sub-

sector. This will foster apprenticeship, service learning, practicum, cooperative education,

collaborative research and field experience which the study found as key collaborative


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programmes used to augment industrial attachment and internship by most developed

and successful economies worldwide. The study also recommends revision of the

curriculum of the various textiles programmes to make room for specializations to

address specific textile production needs. There should be specializations in indigenous

textile production, textile technology, textile merchandising, textile entrepreneurship,

textile design, fashion design, among others. This will help the academic institutions to

train graduates with in-depth knowledge with requisite expertise to fit into specific jobs in

industry after school. To complement this, it is recommended that the authorities of the

academic institutions hire experienced lecturers who have relevant qualifications and

develop their staff in relevant areas to improve their teaching and research capabilities.

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