Academia, industry mismatch worrying — Prof. Oteng-Adjei
The President of the Ghana Baptist University College, Prof. Joseph Oteng- Adjei, has called for a national stakeholder dialogue on the relevance of private tertiary instructions to industry in reducing unemployment in Ghana.
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He said the current infrastructure and financial challenges were compelling such institutions to follow the traditional methods of training students without deviating to meet current trends.
According to him, global trends indicated that if private tertiary institutions did not adapt and refocus to meet international trends, they would collapse.
Occasion
Prof. Oteng-Adjei made the call during the 14th Congregation of the Ghana Baptist University College in Kumasi on the theme: “Skills Development for Job Creation: Options for the university graduate”.
A total of 420 students including more than 100 females graduated in various programmes after four years of tertiary education.
He said his concerns stemmed from the long-standing growing numbers of graduate unemployment in the country.
Flexibility
Prof. Oteng-Adjei proposed a meeting with the regulators to give private tertiary institutions some flexibility that would enable them take risk to pursue programmes that will be game changers.
He said beyond all those, there was the need to increase student confidence and train them in the art of public speaking, adding that some graduates were very good academically but lacked the confidence to articulate their views.
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Mismatch
The Co-founder of the International Community Schools, Dr Charles Yeboah, insisted that the current economic situation could not be entirely blamed on unemployment but on the mismatch of skills by graduates from universities.
He said the mismatch between academia and industry remained a concern and a major cause of graduate unemployment which continued to threaten national development.
"There is, however, a persistent call for both public and private tertiary institutions to rethink and adapt to the needs of industry as a way of addressing the teeming graduate unemployment in the country.
"When universities and other tertiary institutions open their portals for admissions, there is always a rush by applicants to secure a space.
"The qualified ones are admitted at the end of the day to start their academic journeys to secure a decent and well-paid job after completion.
"But that is not always the case as most graduates are still struggling to find jobs although others are venturing to other areas to establish themselves,” he said.