Universities in Ghana don’t need to change their curriculum to remain relevant in our quest for national development. In fact, they are doing exactly what they were mandated to do. The only challenge is that university grad ... read full comment
Universities in Ghana don’t need to change their curriculum to remain relevant in our quest for national development. In fact, they are doing exactly what they were mandated to do. The only challenge is that university graduates in Ghana have arrogated to themselves duties that are beyond them. It is a fact that most of the programmes offered at our universities are academic in nature yet graduates from these institutions want to always take over professional duties and this is what is exposing their incompetence. All over the world, there are academic degrees and professional degrees. In the USA, for instance, a college degree is not the same as a university degree and in the UK they have professional bodies well established to train and certify professionals in Engineering, Accountancy, Marketing, Management, Science, Technology, etc. I can confidently say that Physics is not engineering, Economics is not accounting or marketing and Human Biology is not medicine just as an academician is not necessarily a pedagogist. The reason is that professionalism encompasses specialized skills and knowledge whilst academic programmes are more broad-based in nature. In addition, academicians are always admonished to publish or peril whilst professionals are always told “experience is the best teacher”. So you see, the two are not the same but in Ghana we assume the two are the same and this is the bane of our underdevelopment. No one can tell me a person with, say, B.Sc Civil Engineering has the same expertise as a person with HND/ B.Tech/B.Eng Civil Engineering. This is because Engineering Science is not the same as engineering as a profession. Whilst the former is educated as a scholar the latter is trained as a professional. This explains why our engineers are confused in this country. The mere fact that a person studies zoology doesn’t mean that person can automatically practice medicine or veterinary surgery. I think these are the issues we need to address to make our youth employable and desist from deceiving them to believe they are Jacks of All Trades and Masters of All. Immanuel Kant, a renowned moral philosopher, had this to say:” All trades, arts, and handiworks have gained by division of labour, namely, when instead of one man doing everything, each confines himself to a certain kind of work distinct from others in the treatment it requires, so as to be able to perform it with greater facility and in the greatest perfection. Where the different kinds of work are not so distinguished and divided, where everyone is a jack- of- all trades, there manufactures remain still in the greatest barbarism”. We must therefore recognize and promote institutions like the polytechnics and the professional bodies to provide professional training and qualifications for our people whilst the universities concentrate on their academic programmes. That is why I support Mahama’s Technical University concept. There should also be that flexibility and ease of professionals (HND holders alike) to pursue academic programmes and academicians also pursuing professional programmes because variety, they say, is the spice of life. Lastly, we must encourage all government establishments to have their own colleges for training personnel at every level of their management. God bless our homeland Ghana.
Kwame Safo 10 years ago
Your points raised are valid but do not address the debate of the writer in the broad sense. What the writer is concerned about is the relationship between education and employability. This is our challenge in Ghana. Many gra ... read full comment
Your points raised are valid but do not address the debate of the writer in the broad sense. What the writer is concerned about is the relationship between education and employability. This is our challenge in Ghana. Many graduates complete and end up in the work place with a lack of understanding for what is required of them. Employers have a high expectation of the kind of skills they are looking for from the graduates and end up disappointed because the latter have no appreciation for what is required of them. So there is a big gap because the Universities have focused on purely academic delivery and have not addressed the employability requirements. The truth is that there is a wider domain of interest here and this is where the conversation must start. Policy makers, Educational Institutions, Businesses and employers and so on. There is a long road ahead but thanks to Einsten-Williams he has listened to this presentation and has shared his thoughts. I bet my last cedi the policy makers have other ideas. Clearly we need a debate on how to make our graduates work-ready.
Universities in Ghana don’t need to change their curriculum to remain relevant in our quest for national development. In fact, they are doing exactly what they were mandated to do. The only challenge is that university grad ...
read full comment
Your points raised are valid but do not address the debate of the writer in the broad sense. What the writer is concerned about is the relationship between education and employability. This is our challenge in Ghana. Many gra ...
read full comment