The school was founded in 1999 under the PNDC Law 321(1992). This law was amended in 2007 with an Act of Parliament (Act 745).
It however, began its academic programmes in September 2003 at the former Meat Marketing Company building in Bukere, a suburb of Bolgatanga. The building was eventually acquired for the school and became its first permanent site.
The school operated from this site where it recruited its pioneer staff and also introduced its first academic programmes until 2007. The school relocated to its new and main campus in Sumbrungu, on the Bolgatanga – Navrongo highway.
Over the years, the school has grown in terms of infrastructure, staff numbers and qualification, academic programmes as well as student numbers.
Currently, the School has two campuses: the Bukere and Sumbrungu campuses.
The Evening School is at the Bukere campus where both tertiary and non-tertiary programmes are run while the Sumbrungu or main campus houses the Administration of the School and all full-time academic programmes.
In April 2020, the school was converted to a Technical University by the Technical Universities amendment Act 2020 (Act 1016).
The University now runs over twenty-five (25) different tertiary programmes of BTech, HND and Dipolma curricula in five (5) Schools, i.e School of Business and Management Studies, School of Applied Science and Arts, School of Built Environment, School of Agriculture and School of Engineering.
Ecological Agriculture is the niche area of the University. This has made the university to build industrial partnerships with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Savanah Agriculture Research Institute (SARI), and the Skills Development Fund (SDF) to improve agriculture in the savannah region of Ghana.
The University is at the climax of introducing master degree programmes in Ecological Agriculture and Agricultural Engineering.
The vision of the University is to become a preferred technical university for developing and disseminating new technologies and innovations through teaching, learning, research and community service for sustainable development
The mission of the university is to provide career-focused education, applying state-of-the-art laboratories and workshops for practical training, applied research and entrepreneurship development in a conducive environment.
CORE VALUES
Our core values are the shared principles and commitment that rally all staff, students and stakeholders to achieve our vision. These are: Academic freedom, Excellence, Integrity, Innovation, Discipline, Sustainability and Equity. These values are deep-seated philosophies that guide our actions and are considered as the university’s cultural foundation stone.
Academic freedom
The university acknowledges the right to freedom of expression in teaching, learning and research in line with the ethical policies of the institution without any hindrance.
Excellence
We strive to exceed expectations not only in providing quality teaching, research and community service, but also for continuous improvement in our services university-wide.
Integrity
We conduct ourselves with honesty, professionalism and respect for others, accepting responsibility for the ethical consequences of our ideas and actions.
Innovation
We aim to challenge our assumptions, curious to create and anticipate change and encourage both our internal and external stakeholders to bring their ideas onboard. We are ready to learn from our failures and we iterate, adapt and generate new ideas and solutions.
Discipline
We are committed to cultivating behaviours that are consistent and align with achieving the university’s goals and vision by vigorously applying the rules and regulations governing the institution.
Sustainability
The university embraces sustainable development by incorporating relevant aspects of climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable practices across the entirety of the university.
Equity
We are committed to ensuring fair treatment, equality of opportunity, fairness in access to information, resources and opportunities that staff and students need to succeed. We seek to eliminate barriers that impede the participation of both internal and external stakeholders.
The niche area of the University is ecological agriculture in line with its agrarian and savannah geographical location. The university will strive to ensure that the niche area guides its programmes and activities.
Bolgatanga Technical University is engaged in a number of collaborations. The University has collaborations with the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on English language immersion training and industrial attachment including research for their students.
The University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, USA to conduct curriculum assessment and infusion of international standards and resources in the hospitality and tourism curricula and to promote exchange of students and staff for research and training.
The Apidon Academy of Science, Burkina Faso to share training and research.
