Transform universities into entrepreneurial-centred institutions — Prof. Anamuah-Mensah
Universities in the country have been urged to transform themselves into entrepreneurial-centred institutions to prepare the teeming youth to establish their own businesses.
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Speaking at the 15th Congregation of the Zenith University College (ZUC), a degree-awarding institution under the mentorship of the University of Cape Coast, the Chairman of the University’s Council, Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, said providing the youthful population with workplace skills in various university programmes would help the establishment of more businesses to provide more jobs and rake in the needed revenue to transform the economy.
“The problem of graduate unemployment is becoming increasingly unmanageable.
The population of the youth is increasing alarmingly and their demand for good education and jobs continues to grow.
“The universities and other tertiary institutions are being called to transform themselves into entrepreneurial institutions to provide workplace skills in their programmes for our youth and prepare them to be career-ready to establish their own businesses,” he said.
Congregation
A total of 135 Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree candidates and 22 Bachelor of Law candidates graduated from the university.
The university has, since 2013, produced a total of over 2,500 graduates made up of 101 Master of Business Administration graduates, over 2,400 Bachelor of Business Administration graduates and 22 Bachelor of Law graduates.
The Chairman noted that educating the youth to thrive in the ever-changing complex world required a drastic transformation of the country’s tertiary education system.
The Overall Best Student award went to Samuel Amoah Gogoe, a Bachelor of Business Administration and Accounting graduate.
Prof. Anamuah-Mensah said in an economy characterised by labour market inefficiencies, skills gap and inadequate harnessing of technologies, there was a need to fine-tune the tertiary education structure to respond to the needs of the country and the global trend.
The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), further suggested that tertiary institutions expand their faculties to include visiting fellows, entrepreneurs-in-residence, investors-in-residence, policymakers, top chief executive officers and national figures.
To ensure high-quality output, the Rector, Stephen Takyi-Asiedu, said ZUC was focused on the continuous improvement of all aspects of its operations, which included re-tooling the teaching and learning processes, improvement of student service and the recruitment and training of the teaching and the non-teaching staff.
The College, he said, was also engaged in the continual review of its programmes to make them market driven.
“Our commitment to academic excellence has been unwavering.
We've diligently worked on enhancing the academic rigour of our programmes through robust quality assurance processes.
“This dedication ensures that our graduates leave Zenith not only with a degree but with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in their respective fields,” he added.
He called on the government to assist private universities, including the school, to reduce the pressure on the public institutions.
Advise
In a speech read on his behalf, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, urged the graduates to guard against complacency and focus on applying all the knowledge and skills acquired at Zenith University College to be prosperous.
