Graduates tasked to help find innovative solutions - To challenges confronting society
The President of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E) Zion Church, Right Reverend Hilliath Dela Dogbe, has advised graduates of tertiary institutions to brace up and come out with innovative solutions to solve problems confronting contemporary society.
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He urged them to be ready to inspire a new generation of young people who were focused as agents of change, as they remained faithful, firm and capable of resisting the evils of corruption that were ripe in the recent age.
Rt Rev. Dogbe was delivering the keynote address at the joint ninth graduation and 11th matriculation ceremonies of the EvangelicalPresbyterian University College (EPUC) in Ho during which 324 students graduated and 190 matriculated into the university.
Beginning of new era Rt Rev. Dogbe indicated that the graduation was not an end to aspirations but marked the beginning of a new era in the job market, which required that they should be updated in order to be in consonance with the
dynamics of the job market.
He said although education was to facilitate growth in the learner, those who misapplied it lost the privilege of responsibility to serve the society
positively.
Mentorship in an address read on his behalf, the Vice Chancellor of the mentor university, the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, emphasised that the EPUC had made steady growth in the past 10 years and was making inroads in the delivery of quality tertiary education in the country, adding that the UCC was proud of its role as a mentor.
He pledged continuous support to the university until it was finally accredited as fully chartered and independent.
Prof. Ampiah, however, said the church must stay away from interfering with the administration of the university.
Expansion of infrastructure the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho Central, Mr Benjamin Kpodo,charged stakeholders of the university to devote resources to the expansion of infrastructure, adding that without the requisite infrastructure, the university would not attract high patronage in the midst of growing competition in the region and country as a whole.
He advised students to acquire skills in addition to their academic achievements, without which they would not survive in the competitive world of work.
Resolve of governing council the Chairman of the governing council of the university, Rev. Dr Setri Nyomi, said the council has resolved to making the necessary inputs to raise standards to make the university a shining star in the country and beyond.
He asked graduands to be change agents in the society and not lose focus and be creative because the terrain of the work environment was turbulent.
In his report, the President of the EPUC, Rev. Dr Cyril G.K Fayose, noted that the university was an open, flexible and the most affordable institution in the country.
Appeal to government Rev. Dr Fayose appealed to the government to increase loans to students of private tertiary institutions to improve access to private tertiary education.
In addition, he urged the government to necessarily extend the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to private tertiary institutions for the provision of infrastructure, laboratories, research grants among others.
Rev. Dr Fayose further called on financiers, funding agencies, estate developers, construction companies, individuals, groups and organisations to build structures on campuses on aBuild, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.