Review university curricula to produce innovative graduates - AAU Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities (AAU), Prof. Olusola Bandele Oyewole, has called for the review of the curricula in the universities to produce innovative graduates.
He stated that the universities needed a system that will produce young people with different orientations for a new market, to address the current needs of the society.
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According to him, the establishment of most universities by the colonial masters was to address the need to produce manpower for the civil service, which was currently saturated and needed a new turn.
“So there is a need to review the curricula in our various universities to produce graduates that will stand on their own, be innovative and be able to create their own jobs, and that is why I say we should change the curricula and focus on teaching in our various universities”, he emphasised.
Prof Oyewole made the call at the AAU’s maiden edition of the African Academic and Heritage Fair in Accra last Wednesday (May 25) as part of its activities to celebrate African Union (AU) Day.
Celebration
The event was an initiative aimed at promoting the renaissance of African culture, literature, exhibitions and other forms of art through the interventions of the educational sector.
The celebration took an introspective look into the role of higher education in strengthening the agro food system, health and social protection systems towards socio-economic development.
The AU Head of States had designated the year 2022 as the “Year of Nutrition” as part of the long-term vision outlined in the Agenda 2063 with its overall goal to increase political commitments and investment in nutrition in order to address the ongoing nutritional challenges.
Commitment
The Education Programme Officer of the African Union Commission (AUC), Dr Emmanuel Okonkwo, said the event reaffirmed that Africa, as a continent, was interested in pushing forward its agenda not only on food security and nutrition but also in science, technology and innovation, in a quest to boost their developmental goals as called for in the AU Agenda 2063.
He said the core aim of the agenda was to strengthen the political continental commitment to end malnutrition and food security through the implementation of the goals and objectives of the African Journal Nutritional Strategy.
Dr Okonkwo called for all stakeholders, especially those in higher education, civil society organisations and the private sector in the higher education spectrum, to secure greater commitment and investment in nutrition and to address the ongoing nutrition and food security challenges to overcome the circles of dependency and poverty on the African continent.
He reiterated, on behalf of the AUC, their commitment in promoting human capital development in line with the aspirations of the Agenda 2063.
