Harnessing Skills and Competencies for Industrial Development through Knowledge Transfer Partnership in Ghana.

Abstract

The development of Ghana can be said to hinge on skill development and technology transfer. In this regards, there is the need to bring industry and academia together for sharing of ideas and knowledge for solving developmental challenges. It is in this vein that Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) has been introduced to help industries to improve their productivity. KTP is a UK-wide programme helping businesses to improve their productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within the UK Knowledge-Base. It is envisaged that this could be replicated in the Ghanaian perspective and Africa as a whole. Most industries solve problems hurriedly, thus causing re-occurrence of such problems. This paper sought to find out the awareness of industries and academic institutions in the Tamale Metropolis as well as their willingness to participate in a KTP program. Questionnaires were administered to the existing fifteen industries. The results showed that none of the industries and academic institutions was aware of KTP, but indicated their willingness to participate in it. It was found that duration of the attachment and preference of KTP over attachment due to long duration had the highest mean of 4.0. This is an indication that the respondents attach more importance to the length of the attachment and that made them to prefer KTP to industrial attachment. Also, the least mean was 1.7, which indicates that, the respondents do not attach any importance to the students solving problem, because students on attachment are not able to solve problems that is why they prefer KTP, associate who can help get solutions to their challenges.  Sixty percent of companies interviewed said they would prefer KTP to attachment.  Also, forty percent of companies agreed that KTP will give lasting solution to their problems. It is recommended that the government forms a board to facilitate the creation and operation of KTP.

 Keywords: KTP, Skills, Polytechnic, Partnership, Industry