Until late last year, there were three universities: the Catholic University College of Ghana (private), Valley View University – Techiman Campus (private) – and the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), which is a public university.

The latest addition is the Sunyani Technical University (STU) which is part of the polytechnics in the country which were converted into technical universities late last year.

Another private university, which has been established in the region, is the Anglican University College sited at Nkoranza.

The Sunyani Technical University
The Sunyani Technical University began as a technical institute in November 1967 to train middle level school leavers in technical courses with the first batch of 60 students.

It operated from then until January 1997 when it was upgraded to a polytechnic with a statutory objective and function to provide career-focused training at the tertiary level.

In 2016, the government enacted the Technical Universities Act (Act 922) to convert polytechnics into technical universities.

By this provision, the STU is mandated to provide higher education in Engineering, Science and Technology, Applied Art, Technical and Vocational Education and Training and other related disciplines and award its own degrees, diplomas, certificates and other qualifications agreed upon by the University Council with approval of appropriate regulatory and certification bodies.

Currently, the university has a staff population of 567 comprising 225 faculty members and 342 non-faculty members with 4,500 students, most of whom are HND students.

With its new mandate and status it is expected that the number of students will increase dramatically in the coming years.

Degree programmes
The university currently has four faculties. They are the Faculty of Engineering; Faculty of Built Environment and Applied Art; and Faculty of Business and Management Studies.

It runs Bachelor of Technology Degree programmes in Accounting with Computing, Procurement and Management, Building Technology, Hospitality Management, Civil Engineering and Management and Entrepreneurial Studies.

It has also applied for accreditation to run a four-year Bachelor of Technology Programme in Electrical Engineering, General Agriculture, Pharmacy Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Construction Management and Quantity Surveying, Tourism Management, Fashion Design and Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Partnership and collaborations
Even though the STU is partnering and collaborating with a number of tertiary educational institutions in Ghana and abroad, its partnership with Fachhochschule Dortmund (University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Dortmund, Germany) has come into focus recently.

On Wednesday, July 26, 2017, four officials of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Dortmund, Germany, led by the Vice Rector, Prof. Ing Helmut Hachul, paid a reciprocal visit to the STU to cement the partnership between the two educational institutions.

Other members of the team were Lars Everding, Vice Dean for Finance, Prof. Dr Tamara Appel and Dagmar Hosch of the International Study and Internship Abroad (The visit, a similar one by the Vice Chancellor of the STU, Prof. Engineer Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, and the Registrar, Mr Samuel Ankama Obour, to Dortmund during which a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two institutions).

Under the MoU, up to four students could take up their studies in the Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Engineering faculties of the partner university.

Lecturers in both institutions would also exchange visits and share experiences to the benefit of the two universities.

Expatiating on the partnership between the two universities, Prof. Ing Adinkrah-Appiah said the STU found in its German counterpart a suitable partner for the achievement of its objectives.

He explained that the STU had chosen engineering as its flagship focus in the partnership since “we want to be the first university in the country to build an electric car”.

“We hope the partnership will build the capacity of the university to enable us to compete with universities in the country and everywhere in the world,” he stated.

Prof. Adinkrah-Appiah observed that notwithstanding the socio-economic advancement of Germany, it continued to invest in education and conduct research since that should be the focus of every smart country.

“We have gold, cocoa, oil and other valuable commodities but we continue to lag behind. We should, therefore, cooperate with a smart country such as Germany which is far ahead in technological development and tap their experience to catapult us to greatness,” he said.

For his part, Prof. Ing Helmut Hachul expressed the readiness of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Dortmund, to collaborate with the STU to break new grounds for both institutions.

He thanked officials of the STU, saying: “I am confident we are going to reap the benefits of this partnership in future.”

The Registrar of the STU, Mr Samuel Obour, explained that as part of the transition of polytechnics to university, the government decided that technical universities should have partnership agreements with their counterparts in Germany which were advanced in technological development.

“We, therefore, want this collaboration to have an impact on both our students and lecturers in particular and the entire country in general.”

He called on senior high school, as well as technical/vocational school leavers in the Brong Ahafo Region and beyond to enrol in the STU since with the upgrading there was a clear-cut academic progression for students for the technical/ vocational students.

–
Source: Graphic Online

The post Sunyani Technical University and partners build electric car appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

VW’s Heizmann said a lack of clarity about whether electric car quotas would be softened, is forcing VW to push ahead with an aggressive launch schedule for electric cars in China.

“The rules look like they are being revised,” Heizmann said, adding that Chinese authorities have not yet clarified how a system of credits for so-called New Energy Vehicles (NEV)’s will be formalized.

A lobbying campaign from Berlin to persuade Chinese authorities to water down the proposals, may prove to be helpful, Heizmann said.

In China, policymakers have put forward proposals forcing carmakers to meet sales targets for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles of 7 percent in 2020 and 15 percent in 2025.

–

Source: Reuters

The post VW plans to launch electric car in China next year appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

If adopted, proposed changes under discussion could see a target of new energy vehicles (NEV) making up 8 percent of sales next year pushed to 2019, two auto executives said.

The changes would lower targets from a draft policy released in September requiring 8 percent of automakers’ sales to be battery electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2018, rising to 10 percent in 2019 and 12 percent in 2020.

Any loosening of NEV targets would mark a pull back by Beijing, which has faced opposition to the planned targets as it looks to drive its domestic carmakers to overtake global rivals in the ‘green’ vehicle sector.

Automakers and industry bodies have said the targets are too tough and could hurt manufacturers’ interests. New energy vehicles last year accounted for just 1.8 percent of sales in the world’s biggest autos market, according to Reuters calculations based on official data.

“It’s normal to make revisions as it’s a draft plan,” An Jin, chairman of Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group (JAC Motor), said on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.

He said he was aware of talks to revise the quota targets, but said nothing was set in stone. “JAC hasn’t been told what revisions might be made to the draft, but I think it is possible the draft will be changed after the discussions,” he said.

“Whether the whole market can hit this quota by 2018 depends a lot on the strength of government policy. If it’s strong then we should be able to surpass the targets,” An said, “(But) if you consider China’s infrastructure and the transformation of China’s auto sector, then perhaps the pace will have to slow.”

TWO PERCENT CUT
Two executives familiar with the plans told Reuters the government was considering options for lowering the requirements.

One idea was to reduce the quota requirement by 2 percent each year, cutting the 2018 requirement to 6 percent, said a China-based government relations official at a major global automaker. It would then be 8 percent in 2019 and 10 percent in 2020.

Another option would be to push back each target by a year, with the 8 percent quota starting from 2019, an executive at a Japanese car maker said.

Both asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter and because the draft was still under consideration.

The overall policy includes quotas for plug-in cars, targets for average fuel economy requirements, and a credit trading system to promote green energy cars while penalizing petrol cars.

The two people said the quota stand-off was tied to a disagreement between the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and China’s top state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

MIIT, which regulates manufacturers, supports a more flexible credit trading system favored by automakers. The NDRC is more aggressive in promoting a transition to electric vehicles, pushing the introduction of the stricter quotas.

An NDRC spokesman said the body played a “small role” when the draft was open to public for discussion. MIIT did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

China has strongly supported and subsidized electric vehicles, but is gradually swapping out incentives for hard targets automakers must meet. The central government cut subsidies 20 percent this year, a first reduction towards eliminating them by 2020.

–

Source: Reuters

The post China may roll back electric car quotas as industry pushes back appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne has as much as begged customers to avoid buying his electric vehicles (EVs) because he loses so much money on them.

Demand for EVs isn’t just weak — it’s practically non-existent. Globally, electric cars have captured only 1% of the market.

Meanwhile, in the US alone, new sales records have been set as pickups trucks and SUVs powered by gas motors have experienced a massive resurgence in popularity.

It’s not like the world’s carmakers are against EVs. They’ve all seen Tesla make a business out of them, really from nothing, in just a decade.

The issue is that they shouldn’t want to commit to building and marketing cars that consumers don’t want. And make no mistake about it, consumers are not showing runaway EV interest.

There have now been perfectly viable, affordable, and technologically sophisticated electric cars in the market for the better part of ten years. And sales haven’t improved to the extent that a carmaker would normally think about spending the billions necessary to develop new fleets of EVs.

And yet, the EVs just keep on coming. Now, even Marchionne is changing his tune, as Bloomberg reported. The carmaker will reveal an all-electric version of its Pacifica minivan at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, wrote Tommaso Ebhardt and Jamie Butters.

“‘A key theme for 2017 will be the increased availability of battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Michael Dean told reporters. ‘This provides a dilemma for automakers as they sacrifice traditional cash-cow internal combustion engine sales for expensive and lower-margin electric cars, necessary to meet onerous new emissions legislation.'”

All these new EVs look cool and point toward a future in which the old-school gas motor will be a museum piece. Unfortunately, for the vast majority of consumers, the new wave of EVs are largely science fiction.

Increasingly stringent new fuel-economy regulations are indeed driving the development of EVs, rather than natural market demand. The automakers derisively refer to these cars as “compliance vehicles” and undertake them only to be able to continue selling their profit drivers. Okay, that’s not entirely why they explore EVs — they want to patent new propulsion technologies so that they don’t get left in the dust if there is a big breakthrough that dramatically shifts that market.

The big car companies are hoping that a Donald Trump administration will give them a break on fuel-economy and emissions regulations. It remains to be seen if that will happen. But until then, the EVs will keep on coming, even if nobody wants to buy them.

–

Source: Business Insider

The post Demand for electric cars is low appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.