Drive national digitisation agenda to spur growth - ECG boss urges graduands
The Ghana Communication Technology University (GCTU) has conferred degrees and diplomas on a total of 1,147 graduands at the 31st congregation of the university.
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The awardees, who pursued various undergraduate and post-graduate programmes, included seven doctoral degrees, 103 master’s degrees and 1,037 undergraduate degrees and diplomas.
Besides, 668 graduands, comprising 110 post-graduate students and 558 undergraduate students from affiliate universities, also graduated.
The affiliate universities are the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and CASS Europe.
National digitalisation agenda
Delivering the keynote address, the Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel D. Mahama, urged the graduands to use the knowledge they had acquired to support the government’s digitisation agenda to spur economic growth.
He said Ghana was on a vigorous digitisation adventure, a reason students pursuing studies at the GCTU must consider themselves privileged to assist the national agenda.
Mr Mahama told the congregation that using ICT alone could close certain gaps such as discovering new customers to a company’s advantage.
For instance, he cited how ICT had allowed the ECG to tap into about 100,000 new customers, “which is showing that in losses alone, 100,000 is equating to GH¢60 million”.
“In driving growth and sustainability in the country, you can never do without ICT, because currently, it is the bedrock of every nation.
With the click of a button, it provides you with the easiest way to compare and contrast what you have been doing over the years with what you have been doing now,” he said.
Mr Mahama reminded the graduands that they had a single tool in hand that could change everything that the government was trying to do in just a twinkle of an eye.
“You are graduating into a world that is yearning for the kind of change you can provide; the saddest thing is to be graduating thinking that you are looking for employment,” he said.
The ECG managing director also advised the graduands, saying that, time would either be their worst enemy or best friend, depending on how they applied themselves as graduates.
New height of excellence
The Vice-Chancellor of the GCTU, Professor Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa, said the GCTU had played a significant role in shaping the landscape of education in Ghana.
Silicon Valley agenda
Prof. Afoakwa indicated that central to the university’s vision was the creation of a technology hub within GCTU, akin to the prestigious Silicon Valley in America.
“We envision a place where innovation and development thrive, and we are witnessing this vision come to life before our very eyes,” he added.
With the GCTU as a pioneer in transnational education in Ghana, he said the university was fostering partnerships with world-class universities such as Coventry University in the UK, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in Germany, CASS Europe and Ramaiah University in India, among others.