Accra Technical University was the first Technical University to be established. It was established in 1949 as a Technical School and commissioned in 1957 as Accra Technical Institute. In 1963, the Institute was renamed Accra Polytechnic, by the orders of the then President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. By the Polytechnic Law of 1992, which became fully operative in the 1993/1994 academic year, Accra Technical University was elevated to a tertiary status. The institution was then placed under the Higher Education Council with autonomy to award Higher National Diplomas. With the passage of the PNDC Law 321, the University upgraded its programmes and facilities in it to provide middle-level manpower to revolutionise and feed the growing Ghanaian industries. Notwithstanding the difficulties that characterized the sudden change over from secondary to a tertiary status, Accra Technical University made a tremendous progress in its review and expansion of curricula to suit contemporary needs. Accra Technical University began to offer Higher National Diploma programmes in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Building Technology, Civil Engineering, Furniture Design and Production, Secretaryship and Management Studies, Bilingual Secretaryship and Management Studies, Accountancy, Marketing, Purchasing and Supply, Hotel Catering and Institutional Management, Fashion Design and Textiles, Mathematics and Statistics, and Science Laboratory Technology. The technician courses offered by the Polytechnic were maintained. In 2007 the Polytechnic Act was promulgated and it repealed PNDC Law 321 of 1992. This Act has granted the Polytechnics autonomy to award the Higher National Diplomas, Diplomas and other Certificates accredited by the National Accreditation Board, and award Degrees subject to the conditions that the council of that Polytechnic may determine. Accra Technical University currently, offers ten Degree and fifteen HND Programmes. These programmes are run in three schools. As a tertiary institution, Accra Technical University is governed by a Council established under the Technical University Act 2016.
