Introduction

In 1992, the Polytechnic Law under Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) Law (1992) upgraded polytechnic education in Ghana to tertiary status. This gave rise to the running of Higher National Diploma (HND) in Commercial Arts Programmes in Takoradi Polytechnic. The HND in Commercial Art Programmes underwent many changes until programmes/courses as Options emerged or created out some departments.

In 2007, the polytechnic law was revised into the Polytechnic Act 2007 (Act 745) to provide tertiary education through full time courses in the field of manufacture, commerce, science, technology, applied arts and applied social sciences, and to facilitate studies and research in technical subjects at the tertiary level. This confirmed the Polytechnics as public tertiary institutions in Ghana with academic autonomy. An avenue was therefore created for the introduction of new programmes/courses.

In 2008, the Department of Graphic Design (now the Department of Graphic Design Technology) was created out of the then Fine Art Department to offer courses in Graphic Design leading to the award of HND in Commercial Arts (Graphic Design Option). Currently, the Department of Graphic Design Technology is one of the six (6) Departments and with highest enrolment of

students in the Faculty of Applied Arts and Technology (FAAT).

The philosophy of the courses in the Graphic Design programme among other things will contribute to Ghana’s quest for competency-based technological education in graphic design at the tertiary level and help build the needed human resource capacity of the country. The programme is also aimed at providing students with hands-on skills training, competences and managerial/entrepreneurial skills that will make them self-reliant in the graphic design world of work and thereby create more job opportunities for others to help grow the economy.