Abstract
Technical education is a major boost to national development because it helps in job creation. This makes technical universities important institutions. The upgrade of polytechnics to technical universities in Ghana has been an important milestone in the enhancement of technical and vocational education. Due to this upgrade, technical universities which were hitherto polytechnics had to compose new anthems to indicate and reflect their new status as universities. The present study focuses on how stylistically significant devices are used to construe the goals of technical and vocational education in anthems of Ghanaian technical universities. The study adopts the descriptive qualitative methodological approach which is theoretically framed by the linguistic and stylistic categories theory postulated by Leech and Short (2007). Anthems of six out of the ten technical universities in Ghana were homogenously sampled using the purposive sampling technique. The sampled anthems which served as data for the study were manually coded using the consensual coding strategy. The study identified the use of dominant stylistic devices such as repetition, parallelism, metaphor, personification and allusion in the sampled anthems. Repetition was used to emphasise the need for institutional solidarity. Parallelism was used to foreground the aims of the universities as well as create rhythmic effects to enhance the musicality in the anthems. Geographical and biblical allusions were used to establish religious and cultural hegemonies while personification and metaphor were also used to foreground the relevance and uniqueness of the institutions. The findings of the study have implications for research and practice. The study concludes that anthems of Ghanaian technical universities are not just construed as institutional symbols but also as mediums for marketing technical education. 
 
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Highlights
The inception of technical and vocational education in Ghana can be traced to the times of the Presbyterian Missionaries in 1844 where various crafts such as book binding, blacksmithing, carpentry, masonry, cookery, needle work and the likes were studied at the castle schools
In sync with Adetunji’s (2006) postulation, the pronoun we is used in the lines of the anthems of Ghanaian technical universities above to create a sense of institutional solidarity and bonding
From the discussion and analysis of findings regarding the use of stylistic devices in anthems of Ghanaian technical universities, the study identified the use of stylistic devices such as repetition, parallelism, metaphor, personification and allusion in the anthems
Summary
The inception of technical and vocational education in Ghana can be traced to the times of the Presbyterian Missionaries in 1844 where various crafts such as book binding, blacksmithing, carpentry, masonry, cookery, needle work and the likes were studied at the castle schools. It was until 1992 under the polytechnic law (PNDCL 321) that polytechnics were upgraded to tertiary status. Tertiary education in Ghana has been mainly focused on the acquisition of soft skills which alone denies a great number of students the chance of acquiring practical or hands on skills. Technical and vocational educational training is geared towards the sciences and practically oriented courses in order to help students acquire a wide array of technical and vocational skills to make them employable in both formal and informal sectors
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