Engage academia to produce graduates with employable skills – Ken Thompson tells businesses
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dalex Finance, Ken Thompson, has called on businesses and captains of industries to engage the academia in producing graduates with employable skills.
Speaking to NorvanReports in an interview, Mr Thompson opined that businesses in the country fail to engage and help the academia in churning out graduates fit for the world of work.
“As a business leader I have failed because I need to engage the academics more and I try do that, and for example we (Dalex Finance) are doing something with our CSR and engaging the academics and they are telling us that this is the first time someone from the business sector has come to speak to them.
“So we need to engage more, we have to engage to ensure that the graduates that are produced from the Universities can think, so as business leaders siting back and saying I don’t like this and that, that’s not right, we should engage,” he noted.
“A good example of institutions that engage are the multinationals, they engage at every level and they have being dong it for over 300 years,” he added.
Mr Thompson’s view is supported by the Dean of University of Ghana Business Schools (UGBS), Professor Justice Bawole, who has asked businesses to place demand on Universities as to what they require of students for employment opportunities in the world of work.
According to Professor Bawole, despite the numerous complaints by captains of industries on Universities churning out students who are not suited for the world work, the industries themselves have failed to clearly spell out what they require from both Universities and students.
“So yes we hear the complaints from industries, but one of the things businesses and captains of industries haven’t helped the Universities with is what they require from students when they have to employ them. If industries want students that can perform in the place of work, then they should put that demand on Universities and the students as well,” he noted.
Reacting to criticisms by the industry that, curriculums of Universities are too theoretical and not practical and that is mainly to be blamed for the poor performance of graduates at the world of work, Prof Bawole partly accepting the criticisms, noted that Universities by their very formation are meant to be theoretical.
“Most of the things done in the University are theoretical and that is because it is to help students develop critical thinking skills and for them to be able to adapt to new and emerging circumstances. Theory is very important because every practical life event has its explanation in theory and students must be able to understand the root causes of things that happen for them to be able to analyse them,” he noted.
“But that notwithstanding, we are striving to give industries what they want,” he added.
Speaking further on the issue, Prof Bawole urged industries to allow Universities send students as interns at their places of work so they can experiment with what they have learnt which then provide industries with the opportunity to mould the students in the area of their thinking and preparing them for the world of work before they graduate from the Universities.
In 2007 – 2013, we at norvanreports can remember the issue of industrial internship for university graduates became important through a public debate which pointed out that, accelerated industrial growth is one of the priorities when worked on and looked at will help boost the welfare of her citizenry as well as economic development. This, therefore, required that tertiary education in Ghana provided graduates with job-relevant skills to meet the demands of industry and the economy as a whole. But the question was how can universities churn out graduates who will be ready for the job market when there was know properly monitored and graded internship programme which allows students their ability to learn while studying as well.
We also know that, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP); The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI); the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE); and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) have in various national documents called for the need to build effective and strong linkages between tertiary education and industry. In fact the late Kojo Baah Wiredu the Finance Minister under the Kufour government in 2007/2008 begun work with industry and the universities to come up with plan in that direction.
On the backdrop of these expressed needs of policymakers coupled with the imperativeness of the subject matter, a study (Tertiary Education and Industrial Development in Ghana) was initiated, with its main thrust being the unravelling of the elements of mismatch between tertiary education and the needs of industry in Ghana and the factors underpinning the mismatches.
The study was conducted in tertiary institutions and firms within the Greater Accra Region, Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), government agencies mandated to govern tertiary education delivery in Ghana and among graduates of tertiary institutions.
Fundamentally, the mismatches uncovered included the insufficiency of certain skills in the labour market that are highly needed by firms: the ability of graduates to analyse data/situations and propose solutions, leadership and innovation, technical skills, and graduates’ ability to take responsibility of own actions and inactions; and the lack of employment opportunities in the labour market.
The foundations of these mismatches were unearthed to include the following eight (8) subcomponents: inadequate tertiary education provisions vis-à-vis provisions in Ghana’s industrial policy; ineffectiveness of institutions charged with oversight responsibility for ensuring quality in tertiary education; poor integration of relevant stakeholders; absence of a national development plan linked to tertiary education; inadequate funding; inadequate personnel/ infrastructure at tertiary institutions; the shift in focus of some tertiary institutions; and industrial Challenges.
The study further unraveled that the mismatches between tertiary education and skills need of firms have three major effects on the Ghanaian economy: labour market effect, productivity effect, and development effect.
Based on these findings, the study recommended the need to develop a long-term national development plan and a comprehensive tertiary education policy situated within the long-term developmental objectives of the country; revamp the tertiary education governing bodies; enhance both vertical and horizontal integrations among stakeholders in the tertiary education sector; boost up funding for tertiary education; mainstream entrepreneurship course into all departments’ programmes; promulgate a legal instrument to compel industries to open up for research; create a greater enabling environment for the private sector and industry to thrive, and create an integrated platform for dialogue on national provisions for tertiary education and the needs of the Ghanaian economy.
On the above facts, we at norvanreports believe graduates from our universities will be able to fit in any sector they are employed, only if the business committee also provide spaces for internship for students through the universities as Professor Bawole has stated in his respones to the question of the university not producing students who are cut for the job market.