Following the closure of all academic institutions by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ghana, and on the basis of the recommendation by the President and a subsequent directive by the NCTE to continue academic work through the deployment of online/distance learning systems, the Executive Committee of the Sunyani Technical University held a Meeting on Thursday April 16, 2020 via zoom to deliberate on modalities for the successful completion of the Second Semester of the 2019/2020 Academic Year.

The following decisions were reached by the Executive Committee, on behalf of the Academic Board of the University:

1. Deployment of E-Learning System
1. The on-line component of the STU Students Management System (STU e-Learning Platform) was successfully piloted for the past one month and has been found to be ready for deployment.
2. That the Executive Committee directs a full deployment of the on-line system for teaching and learning for the completion of the Second Semester of2019/2020 academic year effective Monday, May 11, 2020 after comprehensive consultations with all stakeholders.
3. Lecturers are required to upload lecture notes/course materials onto the STU e-Learning Platform every Friday, with the first upload to be done by Friday, May 8, 2020. Same materials may also be posted on the various class WhatsApp Platforms as may be applicable.
4. The STU e-Learning Platform has been designed with flexibility to allow class discussions, questions from students to lecturers and subsequent feedbacks and vice versa.
5. Special arrangement has been put in place, in special circumstances, to send hard copies of course materials to representatives at sister Technical Universities for students who reside in parts of the country without internet coverage, when information about such students are made available to Management.
6. Deans and Heads of Department are to supervise the uploading of lecture notes and assignments onto the e-learning system.
7. All challenges with regard to the uploading and downloading of course materials and assignments should be reported to the ICT Director via the head of department.
8. Vodafone and MTN Ghana have zero-rated all services on the STU e-Learning Platform for both Lecturers and Students regarding uploading and downloading of all materials through a special arrangement by the government of the Republic.
9. It is expected that, if the pandemic does not end within the shortest possible time. teaching and learning will go on in this manner for the next 12 weeks, including two weeks examination period, before the Second Semester of 2019/2020 would be completed.
2. Assessment of Students
1. Lecturers are required to upload assignments for students on bi-weekly basis, of which students are to work out and submit feedback, by Friday of the second week, to form part of their continuous assessment.
2. Within this arrangement, the University will adopt Take Home examination method to conduct the end of semester examination for the Second Semester of 2019/2020 academic year. Nonetheless, should the pandemic end before examination period, then sit in examination on the university campus will be adopted.
3. Final assessment and grading will be carried out per the following system:
1. Continuous Assessment-60% (5 Assignments-5O%; 1 Mid-Sem Exam -10%)
2. End of Semester Examination - 40%
3. Project Work

Final year students for both BTech and HND/Diploma are to continue working on their project works by submitting their work chapter by chapter to their supervisors. Data collection could be primary or secondary, where applicable, for analysis and long essays may be adopted where applicable.

4. Conclusion

While the Management of the University is working fervently to ensure the academic year is not totally thrown out of gear due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, we solicit the maximum cooperation of all Students and Faculty/Staff to ensure a successful completion of the Semester.

Thank you.

OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR
Date: Monday, May 4, 2020