Prof. Mohammed Salifu, Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), has called on industries to offer practical training to graduates.
According to Prof. Salifu, graduates need additional practical training in industries in order to augment what they acquired during their internships.
“This is where the industry players fail to appreciate their role as an extension of training.”
He, however, noted that most industry players do not appreciate this role and blame tertiary institutions for not adequately training the graduates.
“Industry does not appreciate that they are an extension of training…institutions cannot train people to be picked off the shelf, they need to be trained in the industries,” he added.
Prof. Salifu disclosed this while speaking at the press briefing to launch the Golden Jubilee celebration and 14th General Conference of the Association of African Universities (AAU) in Accra.
Currently the gross enrollment of higher education is only 14 to 15 percent of the proportion of the educational population, but there are still challenges related to graduate unemployment in the country, he said.
He said training institutions should also look at the kind of graduates they are churning out.
“We have to look at a review of the curriculum and national policies that will facilitate employment after graduation,” he indicated.
Professor Etinne Ehile, General Secretary of AAU, touching on the celebration, said they would be holding two historic events to commemorate the anniversary from 5th – 8th June.
He said the conference and Golden Jubilee celebration, which would be held at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, would be hosted by the Government of Ghana, National Council for Tertiary Education and the Vice Chancellors Association of Ghana.
“Over 500 executives from academia and industry spread across the African continent will be in attendance to discuss and shape the way forward for African Higher Education in line with Africa Union Agenda 2063,” he said.
Prof. Ehile further observed that the upcoming general conference of the AAU is the highest decision making body of the Association, and is an assembly of representatives of all the over 380 member institutions of AAU across Africa.
“The broad topic for discussions will be ‘AAU at 50, Achievements, Challenges and Prospects for Sustainable Development in Africa,” he added.
Professor Orlando Quilambo, AAU Vice President, said the conference would have five subthemes- promotion of science and technology and innovation through higher education, curriculum reform as key to graduate employability and entrepreneurship, role of higher education in managing the environment, higher education as a tool for promoting democratic governance and mobilizing resources for higher education in Africa.
He also used the event to thank the government for accommodating the Association over the years and urged tertiary institutions to patronize the event.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri & Abigail Owiredu-Boateng