Academia, industry urged to collaborate

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has called on academic institutions to establish stronger ties with industry and government and foster collaborations for the development of the nation.

While the various segments have different roles to play, he said, they needed to collaborate and stop the blame game to find lasting solutions to challenges facing the country.

He said the collaboration should include meaningful internships, research partnerships and joint initiatives that would bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Mr Nkrumah asserted that by actively engaging with industry and government, academia would stay tuned to the needs of the job market and equip students with the relevant soft and hard skills to enhance their ability to create employment for themselves and others.

23rd congregation

Mr Oppong Nkrumah spoke at the 23rd congregation of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) where about 1000 students from the various faculties graduated.

The graduates were drawn from the faculty of law, Business School and the School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, while graduates with doctorate degrees were from the School of Technology, School of Public Service and Governance, Business School and School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

The ceremony, which attracted players from industry, government, representatives of sister academic institutions, friends and relatives of the graduates, was on the theme :“building synergies, harnessing the potential of academia, government and industry for growth’’.

The blame game

Although the collective desire of all segments of society was to mould the nation into one that assures freedom justice and opportunity for all, "Often, each segment of society thinks that the other segment has the responsibility to do more than they are currently doing," said Mr Oppong Nkrumah.

Government, he said, blamed industry, academia and citizens for not paying enough taxes, for not teaching the right courses and for not creating enough jobs.

Industry, on the other hand, he said, blamed the government for taxing too much and not providing enough support and also blamed the citizens for not working diligently enough even when they got jobs.

Referring to the academia, the minister said they blamed the government, industry and citizens for not cooperating enough to execute the intelligent academic proposals they put out while the citizenry blamed everyone else for their situations.

"We need to adopt a new approach that is different from the blame and finger pointing.

We cannot do the same things and expect different results.

It is time to adopt an approach of collaboration to advance the cause of moulding the country we truly desire," he said.

To transform Ghana into a great and strong nation, he said each segment of society must commit to do better at their individual roles.

Academia, which he described as the fertile ground where knowledge was natured, minds shaped and where the bulk of the solutions to the teething problems were drawn while governments developed policies with industry developing cutting edge products, services with the citizens cooperation and participation to make things happen.

"Each of us has to admit that we have not done well enough.

We have the capacity to do a lot more and do a lot better than we are currently doing.

The world we live in demands more than just theory," he said.

Successes

The Rector of GIMPA, Professor Samuel Kwaku Bonsu, after congratulating the students, said the institute in its 62 years of existence had chalked up a number of successes.

To entrench GIMPA as a centre of excellence, he said a number of measures had been initiated including developing a five-year strategic plan to cover 2023-2027 and stating a new vision for the institute.

The focus of the institute in the past year, he said, had been on laying the relevant foundation to achieve the plan of becoming a leading institution in the country.

The Chairman of the GIMPA Governing Council, Kofi Darko Asante, said GIMPA's core mandate was to ensure the fusion between academia, industry, government and society that was why its products were unique.