Dominion University College makes strides, targets job market

The Dominion University College (DUC) is to focus more on preparing graduates for the job market instead of just “handing out certificates” to them at the end of their courses.

This, according to the Chairman of its Governing Council, Professor Felix Nikoi Hammond, will reduce graduate unemployment in the country.

He added that it would also help in improving on the socio-economic development of the country.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic last Wednesday in Accra, Prof. Hammond explained that whereas universities and other tertiary institutions were focusing on giving graduates and students theoretical knowledge and completion certificates, the benchmark most employers were looking for when recruiting was graduates who possessed some practical experience together with the key competencies of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.

“Higher education has been the same in Ghana over the years.

On paper we all talk about the problems of our current higher education model. The fact that it is too bookish and it focuses on theory than practice,” the council chairman said.

He further stated that there was a gap between what employers were looking for and what the universities were churning out.

“Graduates looking for jobs in many cases do not have the right kind of skills, expertise and competencies to be able to get the jobs that they are looking for,” he stated.

Dominion aims high

Prof. Hammond said the Dominion University College “will soon cause a stir in the higher educational system of the country.”

Explaining, he said what the institution was doing was “changing our structure.

We are changing the way we offer higher education in the country.”

He added; “We are changing the balance between theory and practice in the curriculum. And we are going into areas that other universities are not looking into.”

He said the school was going into product design and development models, which would enable graduates of the university college to come up with products that industry wanted.

Graduate school

Prof. Hammond said plans were far ahead to launch a graduate school by the close of this year.

The graduate school, he said, would be offering “a large number of Masters and PhD programmes”.

Some of the PhD programmes are statistics, clinical psychology, development studies and management.

The master’s programmes are computer science, cyber security and management among others.

He added that “We have a very solid administration system headed by the registrar who supports the running of all the academic divisions that we’ve mentioned. The President for the University, Prof. Nsowah-Nuamah, is a well-resourced professor in Ghana and internationally and he is driving the change.

“And the council is made up of renowned and experienced practitioners and entrepreneurs, CEOs and bank directors.”