The Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) to strengthen technical and vocation education in Ghana.
The agreement will support AAMUSTED to design and develop Open, Distance and Flexible Learning (ODFL) digital course material (courseware) for TVET sandwich programmes.
It also forms part of efforts to support the university to strengthen its mandate of ensuring that TVET in Ghana is promoted through the training of experts and requisite manpower and employment solutions.
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organization established by the Commonwealth Head of Governments in 1998 to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge resources and technologies.
Its mission is to help governments to expand the scale, efficiency and quality of learning by using appropriate technologies, particularly those that support Open and Distance Learning (ODL).
Professor Humphrey Danso, Dean of the Faculty of Technical Education at AAMUSTED, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the full project to be implemented in stages would span over three years.
He said the initial agreement sought to design and develop ODFL curriculum and strategies for implementing Diploma in Construction Technology programme for delivery in sandwich/distance mode.
Prof. Danso, who is also the Lead Project Coordinator, said the initial stage of the project would involve the development of 23 ODFL courseware or materials and assessment tools from the newly developed occupational standard for the Diploma in Construction Technology programme at the level five of the national TVET qualification framework (NTVETQF).
He said the targeted groups for the ODFL curriculum would include the National Certificate II at level four of the NTVETQF in construction technology learners, construction technology intermediate learners, senior high technical schools (SHTS) learners, learners of any related studies and mature applicants.
Prof. Danso said AAMUSTED would set up courseware design and development team, ICT support team and a quality assurance team as well as monitoring and evaluation team, while Commonwealth of Learning would provide consulting and financial support to ensure the realisation of the project.