Train Entrepreneurs, Not Job Seekers � Mahama To Varsities

President John Dramani Mahama has charged heads of various universities in the country to make their curricula more practical to ensure that graduates are able to establish themselves after their courses.

According to him, this will ease the burden on government to offer jobs for graduates. He says the situation where almost every graduate expects to be employed in the public sector must change.

Speaking at the fourth congregation of the Perez University College in Accra, President Mahama said, “most institutions in the world have changed their curricula to reflect what business and industry wants, and that is to support more practical, evidence-based, entrepreneurial, innovative and problem solving skills. Let us continue to help mould the students; not only into employable persons after graduation, but also to imbibe in them entrepreneurial skills that challenge them to begin to dream of setting up their own businesses even while in school.”

Ghana’s public sector employs 600, 000 yearly

In Ghana, the public sector employs approximately 600, 000 people and every year, more than 50, 000 students graduate from the universities and tend to look for jobs.

“All over the world, the optimal size of the public sector in any well-functioning governance system does not exceed 5% of the population. In Ghana, the public sector that is paid from government’s budget amounts to approximately 600, 000 people. Every year, our institutions of higher learning churn out more than 50, 000 graduates and all of them cannot be absorbed unto the public sector” President Mahama said, adding that “we must make our graduates have a vision that they are entrepreneurial minded and so when they come out the private sector will find them attractive to employ.”

President Mahama also used the occasion to congratulate the efforts of private institutions in providing tertiary education to many Ghanaians.

He said, “we have a vision of making Ghana an educational hub and it is already becoming so. The number of foreign students studying in our universities for higher degrees, and polytechnics is mind-boggling and it is continuing to grow.

That is why it is very important for us to maintain the standards of our academic institutions in order to make them more attractive for students in other West African countries and beyond to come here and study.”

The ceremony was also used to induct into office the new Chancellor of the University, Bishop Dr. Charles Agyin Asare.

The Church recently acquired the Pan African University College and renamed it Perez University College.

About 300 students are to graduate from the university.