ATU CEOs Lecture Series: Let’s teach students technical skills, ‘home sense’ — Dr Agyenim
The country needs to reform its education to enable students to acquire technical, and soft skills and virtues such as discipline, the Director of the Institute of Industrial Research of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR -IIR), Dr Francis Boateng Agyenim, has advocated.
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Speaking at the 2nd CEOs Lecture Series of the Accra Technical University (ATU), Dr Agyenim said such a move would help boost the country’s development and industrialisation agenda, as well as give the youth a strong foundation to become entrepreneurs to propel economic growth.
“We are producing students that are half-baked; no technical skills, no basic soft skills such as how to make presentations or even to speak,” he said.
Gap
On how such a reform could be implemented, Dr Agyenim said the country could implement an educational gap system between secondary and tertiary education for such skills to be taught.
“From secondary school, whether the student is going to a classical university or a technical university, there should be a gap of one year so that the student will learn technical skills such as carpentry, masonry or welding.
“Again, such a gap should allow the student to go to the military and learn basic skills such as endurance, discipline and hard work. In short, our students should have technical skills and also be taught ‘home sense’ before proceeding to tertiary institutions,” he said.
Lecture series
The ATU CEOs Lecture Series is a platform that allows students of the ATU to meet captains of industries, entrepreneurs and other distinguished personalities and tap into their knowledge and experiences.
This year’s event was on the theme: “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem.”
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The other distinguished speaker at the event was Prince Kofi Kludjeson, a renowned business executive and Chairman of Celltel Networks Limited.
TVET is key
Dr Agyenim further said one best way to create sustainable development in the country was to put a premium on technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
To achieve this, Dr Agyenim said more resources should be dedicated to TVET with full scholarships offered to students who pursue TVET. Again, he said technical universities needed to be very innovative and not operate like traditional universities.
For instance, he said technical universities should create innovative hubs, create centres of excellence and dedicate more resources to research.
“Technical universities must have their innovative way of doing this and stop copying the traditional universities. “In every country where they have done well, there are two-tier universities - technical and traditional.
For instance, in Germany, there is a technical high school where one can go and go all the way to get a PhD,” he said.
Support
Mr Kludjeson said there must be sustainable and consistent support for entrepreneurs to enable them to expand their businesses. Again, he said, entrepreneurs must ensure that they built solid brands that would last a long time and have a positive impact on society.
The acting Vice-Chancellor of ATU, Prof. Amevi Acakpovi, said the lecture series would help bridge the divide between academia and industry.
“The series is a strategic platform to bridge the divide between academia and industry, provide our students and faculty direct access to insight, experience and wisdom of leading industry figures and entrepreneurs.
“The goal is to nurture an environment where education meets the real world, fostering collaboration that empowers our students for the dynamic job market,” he said.
Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh