The Vice-Chancellor and Principal, including senior academic and administrative staff of the Milton Margai Technical University (MMTU), on Monday 9th October 2023, paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Technical and Higher Education (MTHE), Professor Ramatulai Wurie, at her New England Ville office in Freetown, at which event the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of MMTU, Dr Philip John Kanu, catalogued the successes and challenges of the institution since he assumed office.
Responding, Professor Ramatulai Wurie commended the MMTU for the visit and the achievements attained, furthering that she is confident that they would continue to achieve more laurels and that the MTHI would provide ICT support to all universities for them to graduate from manual to digital to enhance efficiency.
Professor Ramatulai Wurie appealed to the MMTU to continue to engage the relevant stakeholders and observed that some of the challenges are generic in other universities. She reiterated the need to build on quality, as education is not cheap, and challenged the MMTU to think about innovative ways to improve on revenue generation and other areas.
She further asserted that they would soon hold discussions with officials of the BADEA project and that their commitments are time bound, but guaranteed that they would bring all stakeholders on board to address the challenges, which she underscored are a priority to the Ministry, and promised to visit the three campuses of MMTU soon.
The Minister added that she would also push for the Learning Management System (LMS) to streamline processes for efficiency, called for the fostering of inter-level collaboration and for MMTU to undertake business ventures, and underlined that the Ministry is fully committed to addressing the challenges.
Earlier in his address, Dr Philip John Kanu expressed happiness in undertaking the visit to the Minister and revealed that the MMTU was established in 1963, adding that it comprises three campuses, with each specializing in various disciplines. He disclosed that they have six (6) faculties and that plans are underway to commence Master’s Degree programs. He also stated that the MMTU would celebrate its 60th anniversary in November this year, further informing the minister that the over 200 acres of land at Goderich has been encroached on by especially the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT), which has encroached on over 78 acres, without any agreement with the institution. He appealed to the Minister to prevail on NASSIT to stop the encroachment, underscoring that encroachment on the college’s land is a major concern and that they are still battling to become a full-fledged Technical University.
The Vice-Chancellor and Principal went on to reveal that they have a staff strength of 600, with over 2,000 students, and that 60% of funds received from the Ministry go towards payment of staff, adding that they now report through the LMS, which he reiterated, must be functional. He lamented that teacher enrollment is dropping yearly and that the Students’ Union government is active.
He went on to reveal that the administration has completed promotional and comprehensive examination results, furthering that they conducted examinations before this year’s June general elections and later conducted reference exams, adding that results were published two weeks after examinations. He stated that they do conference markings, and also disclosed that lecturers were prosecuted for sexual harassment, all according to the Terms of Reference from the Ministry, while some were castigated for abandoning their work, for which they can be sacked.
Dr Kanu continued to catalogue ongoing projects in the three campuses of MMTU, including the Business Hub, Skills Development and the Sierra Leone Economic Diversification, all sponsored by the World Bank, and that their diagnostic laboratory hosts PhD students. He maintained that they undertake research work like the one on Food Safety and affirmed that a university that does not undertake research is not a university, also that they have capacitated staff in ICT.
He further informed that they have also signed Memorandums of Understandings with various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Agriculture. He furthered that he inherited a debt of Le7 billion, which he has paid, adding that lecturers are now paid on time. He appealed to the Minister for regular payment of their subvention, asserting that the Ministry still pays the salaries and other allowances of staff, which has been the reason there has been no strike action since 2018.
According to Dr. Kanu, MMTU maintains rigid fiscal discipline, and the Congo Cross campus of MMTU has workshops and garages that generate income.
He recalled that when he assumed office, the institution had almost collapsed, with no toilets and water facilities on all three campuses, explaining that the administration holds meetings with staff and students regularly, but lamented that when he was suspended for an investigation, chairs, air conditioners and electrical fittings at the Goderich campus were vandalized and that outsiders are interfering into the administration of MMTU, disregarding the fact that they have an internal grievance redress mechanism.
“I have been investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission, the University Court and Parliament. Other challenges we are facing are late registration of students and refusal to pay their fees, for which we need the help of the Ministry. Also, six staff members have refused to vacate the quarters at Goderich campus for renovation work to commence. Rehabilitation work on the offices has been completed at the Goderich campus, while the road that we constructed through a self-help project at the Congo Cross campus has been destroyed by the consultants, who have never responded to our letters for a meeting to address some of the issues raised, especially the geotechnical analysis for the renovation work,” Dr Kanu explained.
He also assured that MMTU would continue to make the Ministry proud, intimating that the alumni of MMTU are also actively involved in the affairs of the institution and that they would soon complete their five-year strategic plan
The highlight of the well-attended meeting was the presentation of documents to the Minister by Dr. Kanu, while the vote of thanks was rendered by the Students’ Union President, John Gommoh.
The Permanent Secretary in the MTHI, Mr Gilbert Cooper, who chaired the meeting and the Chief Technical Education Officer in the Ministry, Mr Josephus Brima made similar statements.
