Transform tertiary education to respond to growing needs — Prof. Anamuah-Mensah
Educating the youth to thrive in the ever-changing complex world requires a drastic transformation of the country’s tertiary education system, the Chairman of the Zenith University College’s Council, Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, has said.
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He said in an economy characterised by labour market inefficiencies, skills gap and inadequate harnessing of technologies, there was the need to fine-tune the tertiary education structure to respond to the needs of the country and the global trend.
“Ghana needs such a transformed tertiary education system to address its needs. The universities and other tertiary institutions are being called to transform themselves into entrepreneurial institutions to provide workplace skills on their programmes for our youth and prepare them to be career ready to establish their own business,” he added.
Prof. Anamuah-Mensah, was speaking at the 14th Congregation of the Zenith University College, a degree awarding institution under the mentorship of the University of Cape Coast.
Postulating some recommendations, the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), said tertiary institutions must expand their faculties to include visiting fellows, entrepreneurs-in-residence, investors-in-residence, policy makers, top chief executive officers and national figures.
They should also encourage the development of an entrepreneurial mindset to cater for the growing job demands, Prof. Anamuah-Mensah added.
He added that there was also the need for universities to give equal value to both academic university pathways and technical and vocational training pathways.
“We must also increase the quadruple helix of academia, industry, government and community in collaborative partnerships to accelerate research and commercialisation,” he said.
The congregation was for the December 2020, June 2021 and June 2022 batches.
A total of 154 students, made up of 76 females and 78 males, were presented for graduation at the university which commenced as a Tutorial College to its current status as a degree awarding institution.
The ceremony witnessed the college’s first batch of Bachelor of Law (LLB) students graduate.
The other graduates were from the Faculty of Bachelor of Business (BBA) Administration in Accounting; BBA - Business Information Systems; BBA- Financial Management; BBA-Human Resource; BBA- Management; BBA-Marketing; BBA-Tourism and Hospitality Management; BBA- Tourism Management, and BBA-Hospitality Management.
The Overall Best Student awards went to Augustine Amoah Nai, an LLB student, and Godfred Klenam Tamakloe, a BBA-Information Systems student from the 2020 Class.
Appeal
The Deputy Rector of the College, Philip K. Buabeng, called on the government to assist private universities, including the school in order to reduce the pressure on the public institutions.
“Private universities continue to be pivotal in building the capacity of our future leaders but it is a very expensive venture. The private individual founders cannot do it alone,” he added.
Mr Buabeng urged the graduates to leverage the skills acquired from the school to provide jobs for themselves and other members of society.
“Use the education you have acquired here to help improve conditions in your societies and help fight corruption, poverty, disease, hunger and ignorance”, he noted.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Vice-Chancellor of UCC, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, commended the university for its effort at equipping students in the country’s bid to address the myriad of developmental challenges confronting the nation.
“Zenith University College is on course in meeting the requirements of its affiliation with UCC and we are hopeful that if appropriate structures are put in place, sooner or later Zenith will be on its own and manage its own affairs”, he said.