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Prof. Stephen Adei

‘Polytechnics need to focus on technical education’

A former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Prof. Stephen Adei, has observed that the ongoing conversion of the polytechnics into technical universities will be fruitless if there is a shift from concentrating on their core mandate of the provision of technical education.

He explained that it would be prudent for the polytechnics or the technical universities to focus strictly on the development of technical education, adding that any attempt to let students of those institutions major in Arts subjects such as sociology and marketing, could spell doom for the nation.

Infrastructure

Speaking at the first congregation and inauguration ceremony of the Christ Apostolic University College in Kumasi, Prof. Adei lamented what he described as the rush to convert the polytechnics into technical universities, pointing out that what should have been done was the provision of the right infrastructure, tools and equipment as well as good conditions of service for the polytechnics to match those in the universities.

The government has announced the conversion of six polytechnics in the first phase of the exercise by September this year. The Cape Coast and the Tamale polytechnics are being reassessed to be added to the six already approved institutions ready to be converted into technical universities.

He attributed the challenges with graduate unemployment to the absence of a good economic environment, proper physical and monetary policies and reduced interest rates to enhance borrowing for development of businesses to be able to absorb many more people.

Job creation

Prof. Adei said the creation of jobs in a country required a very conducive economic environment, and called on the universities to go the extra mile by focusing on the employability of graduates, making sure they trained students in such a way that they could ‘think outside the box’ and be very versatile and be able to cope wherever they found themselves after school.

He was quick to mention that although graduate unemployment was very high in the country, the universities should not be made scapegoats for not being able to solve the problem of unemployment since many factors such as a growing economy must be considered in finding a lasting solution to the canker in the country.

Prof. Adei said the manufacturing sector, which used to absorb majority of the nation’s youth, had failed in that regard due to the lack of development of policies to ensure its sustenance, adding that all these were among the factors for the high unemployment situation in the country.

Mentorship

Prof. Adei mentioned mentorship as one of the key things which could be done to prepare students well for the job market, and called for a review of the nation’s educational structure or curricula to meet the country’s current development and global trends.

He cited, for instance, that if at least, 10 per cent of graduates were able to create their own jobs and became entrepreneurs,  in no time most of their mates and others could be employed to boost the economy.

Prof. Adei urged students to develop integrity, care for one another and build a good character which would send them to places, since people would trust them and leave their investment or lives in their care.

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