Kumasi Technical University, which serves the Ashanti region of Ghana, was set up in 1954 to teach craft courses. It was renamed Kumasi Polytechnic in 1963, when it started to offer diploma-level courses. It assumed its current name and status under the Technical Universities Act in 2016.
Kumasi Technical University aims to be "a world-class technical university devoted to science, technical and entrepreneurial education", which will "provide quality teaching, learning and research in engineering, science, technology and entrepreneurship to promote industrial development in Ghana".
In 2022-23, its roll reached a record high of 12,704 students, spread across the faculties of business studies, applied science and technology, built and natural environment, creative arts and technology, engineering and technology, entrepreneurship and enterprise development, and health sciences. Courses are delivered on a competency-based training model, aimed to inculcate skills necessary to employment.
With women making up less than a third of the student body – in engineering, only 120 out of 1,960 students are women – science, technology, engineering and maths scholarships for women were created in 2022. A KsTU team won Ghana’s Women in Engineering Innovation Challenge Cup in 2023 with a project aimed at creating sustainable employment.
A new satellite site has been created at Jhansa, where diploma-level courses are taught. A pension scheme including free medical care at the university clinic was introduced for retired staff in July 2023.
