By William Yaw Owusu
Monday March 26, 2007
Tertiary institutions have been asked to gather the courage to repackage their programmes to make them more relevant to the socio-economic needs of the people.
“Humanity in present times is confronted with many challenges and pressures for which tertiary institutions cannot afford to continue in their conservative tradition of holding on to structures and operations that make it difficult for them to meet the expectations of the larger society,” Vice President Aliu Mahama has noted.
He was speaking in Accra at the weekend at the seventh graduation ceremony of Jayee Institute, a private tertiary institution in Accra affiliated to the University of Education, Winneba (UEW).
A total of 405 students, mostly females who graduated between 2004 and 2006, were awarded Diploma Certificates in Office Management and Secretaryship, Accounting, Marketing, Public Relations and Journalism.
Tertiary institutions, the Vice President said, should be seen as providing leadership in the generation of ideas, knowledge and skills for efficient and effective management of resources.
“Such leadership should reflect in the pursuit of excellence as a trademark in creativity, research and a hand on problem solving approach to challenge the confronting society,” he urged.
He said once the world has become a global village as a result of the dominance of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), tertiary institutions should take the opportunity to explore the situation to enable the country to position herself to meet the challenges of the information age.
Alhaji Mahama advised the graduands to put into good use the skills they had acquired saying, “your parents and guardians have made huge investments in your training so reciprocate this kind gesture by rendering devoted service to them and the nation at large.”
Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, Vice Chancellor of University of Education, Winneba (UEW) described the partnership between the UEW and Jayee as fruitful, saying “we want to support them to produce programmes that are market-driven and also bring about innovation into the educational sector.”
Dr. Isaac Sagoe, Board Chairman of Jayee Institute, said the institution is going through a transformation that will re-brand it to become a special university that will be noted for its creativity and innovation in its programmes.
While commending the government for supporting private institutions, he also appealed to the government through the Vice President to provide the institute with a bus from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
Mr. J.E. Donkoh, founder and Principal of the institute, said preparations are underway to introduce a Bachelor of Science in Journalism programme with options in Political Science, Sports, Business and Finance as well as Law in September.
He appealed to the government to set aside some funds to enable accredited institutions to access loans with low interest rates for infrastructural development to enhance the growth of the educational sector.
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