THE EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE OF TAMALE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY ORGANISED A TWO-DAY WORKSHOP ON RESEARCH CAPACITY BUILDING AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

The newly established Educational Development Centre under office of the Vice-Chancellor, which is as a result of a collaborative agreement between TaTU and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), organized a two-day (2-3 December 2024) workshop on Research Capacity Building and Intellectual Property Rights Strategies at the Amatrol Lab.

The workshop, which was attended by a total of 22 participants consisted of Faculty Deans, Departmental Heads and representatives, aimed at exposing participants to some of the taken for granted issues on research journey trajectories’ and also to recognize the role of Intellectual Property (IP) and devise informed strategy in the university creative value chain.

The Director of the centre, who was one of the facilitators of the workshop (Hanan Lassen Zakaria), in his introductory remarks encouraged participants to focus on motivating practice-focused research that translates into real-life solution for the conditions and structural causes of poverty and deprivation of our communities.

During the workshop, participants led by the facilitators explored how to Identify and define a research problem, develop literature review, generate research questions, understand the fundamentals concepts of IP and appreciate the need for the IP policy in the university – industry engagement

Some reflections and recommendations from the participants

• It was very valuable programme
• Very impressive. The entire content was valuable. I think the time allocated to the workshop was not enough.
• This workshop came at the right time for TaTU. We need to organise more of such workshops
• Clear and appropriate content. The professional was extremely knowledgeable and possess great interpersonal skills.
• Small recommendation: looking at the question load this morning, have more frequent Q&A sessions in between topical sessions OR clearly announce in the beginning that questions will be addressed at the end of the presentation.
• Excellent
• It was to my satisfaction
• Work shop was impactful. The aspect of research topics and problems identification was most valuable. The aspect of research components designed on a conceptual frame work could further be segregated after the frame and categorized to make it simple and easy to identify.
• Great organization and relevant content
• It was very engagement, we have to form research groups in TaTU, non-teaching staff especially members should be invited. We need more of such presentation.
• The general impression is good and the workshop is very helpful for the start.
• The workshop was largely successful, meeting expectations in all areas except for time management. The scheduled timing wasn’t strictly adhered to, resulting in some participants departing before the official closure and the omission of the planned lunch break. However, the most valuable takeaway was the first lecture, which highlighted a critical issue: the production of insufficiently prepared graduates by African universities. This compelling research underscores the urgent need for curriculum planning teams across

institutions to prioritize practical, hands-on teaching and learning methodologies, thereby significantly reducing over-reliance on theoretical knowledge and enhancing graduate preparedness for the workforce.

• I was impressed. More of these for TaTu
• In future, such workshops should minimize time as some beneficiaries may have some responsibilities to attend to. Besides, lunch should be provided if the workshop intends to exceed certain periods.

It was very instructive. However, the days were very limited. Next time it should be made to cover a period of at least, 3 days