Build valuable networks, students in tertiary institutions told
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mrs Mawuena Trebarh, has advised students in tertiary institutions to build valuable networks as they form part of the engines through which they could progress in society.
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Speaking at the third matriculation and convocation of the Marshalls University College in Accra, Mrs Trebarh urged students to respect the networks as they built them, adding that “it is extremely important because you would never know when those networks would come back and support you”.
At the ceremony, where 86 freshmen were formally admitted to the college, a new President of the college, Prof. Benony Kortatsi, was introduced.
Opportunity
Mrs Trebah reminded the fresh students that each opportunity to engage with another human being was a blessing from God, and therefore told them to be creative and innovative while in school, as some of the great innovators of recent times developed their innovations while pursuing their undergraduate programmes in university.
“Build valuable networks because networks are the engine in which you progress in your own society. Many of you may not appreciate the networks that you develop today, among yourselves and within yourselves are the very networks that would serve you later,” she said.
Extensive reading
Mrs Trebarh said the students should read widely, and not limit themselves to their subject areas “because a whole individual is a vast individual and you can only be vast when you have taken the time to explore other areas that traditionally you would not have considered”.
Rev. Prof. George Aning of the Liberal Catholic church in Accra, said knowledge and skills were not acquired for their own sake and so they must be used to contribute to the development of society.
“We need education to survive in this society. It is accepted that the most important resource for national development is human capital, which is developed through education,” he said.
He said, for instance, that science and technology were used to solve the problems of humanity but the humanities too are important so any educated person “who ignores the humanities would invariably weaken or indirectly undermine the service industry, which touches the life of each one of us”.
Grading
Prof. Kortatsi reminded the students that university grading started from the first year, and that “whatever grade you obtain at the end of your study is an integration of all grades you have accumulated over the years.
“It is therefore, time to cut the cackle and get down to serious business at once.”
He said Marshalls, which was formed on Christian principles, frowned upon indecent dressing and advised them to dress decently, since dressing up well was indicative of the good personality and virtues of a person.