Abstract:
The fashion sector plays a vital role in driving economic growth globally, yet Ghana's
fashion industry encounters hurdles such as heavy reliance on imports and low local skill
levels. Recognizing the sector's significance, Ghana has implemented policies and
educational reforms, including competency-based training (CBT) in fashion education.
However, the effectiveness of such programs, particularly at Accra Technical University
(ATU), remains underexplored. This study evaluated the CBT option of the Higher
National Diploma (HMD) fashion program at ATU, focusing on its ability to meet student
expectations, factors affecting graduate performance, student competencies, program
relevance, and challenges of graduates of the programme in the job market. Grounded in
pragmatism, the study adopts a mixed-approach; convergent parallel thus combining
quantitative and qualitative methods and elicited data from 107 past students and 153
present students of the programme using questionnaires and interviews. The study's data
was analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis. The study among
others revealed that the programme is very relevant to the students who had assessed it and
that it fulfilled their expectations of attaining competencies and skills. It also revealed that
many of the graduates could create new designs to meet clients' expectations. The study
concludes that the programme is very relevant to the graduates as it provides them with the
skills and competencies needed to perform and can produce designs to match-up with
contemporary fashion demands and trends. The study therefore recommends that the
programme should be continued to provide many fashion designer With skills and
competencies. It also recommends that the interest of the graduates be whipped up to
sustain them for acquiring more skills and competencies. The school authorities,
government and other relevant agencies must do their bid to always keep the programme
very relevant and impactful.
Description:
A Thesis in the Department of Music
Education, School of Creative Arts, submitted to the School of
Graduate Studies, in Partial fulfilment
of the requirements of the awards of the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Arts and Culture)
in the University of Education, Winneba
