The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has called on higher learning institutions in the country to offer innovate and skills related courses to make their students relevant to the job market.
That, he said, would help accelerate the development of the country.
Dr Bawumia gave the advice in Accra yesterday during the inauguration of Academic University College.
The Vice President said the need for innovation and students with high thinking capacities to address the problems of society in the fourth industrial revolution could not be underestimated.
“Undoubtedly the successful economic transformation of every nation in the 21st century would significantly rely on the provision of tertiary education in digital and information technology. This is responsible for the global growing demand for high quality and relevant tertiary education which concentrate on teaching the youth with problem solving skills harnessing the various human and technology resources at their disposal,” he said.
Dr Bawumia said the forth industrial revolution needs students who are technically and technologically inclined workforce,” Dr Bawumia, said.
He said the government had chosen for the country to be part of the industry revolution and made a decision not to be left behind, and as a matter of urgency, government was pursuing “technology not for the sake of technology, but pursuing to solve problems.”
He said the government would continue to foster and support the partnership between universities, research institutionsand industry at large to actualise the country’s digitalisation goals.
Dr Bawumia dismissed the perception that the introduction of robots would cause job losses in the future, saying global studies proved otherwise.
The Vice President entreated Academic University to take the lead in digital manufacturing, saying as the country moved into Artificial Intelligence, the country needed to leverage that in the manufacturing sector.
The Vice President commended the University for being the first academic institutions to introduce a bachelor programme in Artificial Intelligence and other forward thinking programmes such as robotics and biomedical engineering.
The Global Peace Ambassador, SriSri Ravi Shankar said quality education was critical to transforming the country, adding that “It is only quality education that Africa and for that matter Ghana could develop.”
He said the country’s natural resources would deplete and it was only education that would sustain Ghana, adding that the country needed education that built strong personality to make them resilient to meet the challenges of society.
The Minister of Education, Dr YawAduTwum in a speech read for him by his Deputy, Reverend John NtimFordjour, commended the founders of Academic University College.
He said government was excited about the establishment of Academic University College to provide Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) education.
The Chairman and Founder of Academic University College, MrDevVaryani, said the university focused on delivering quality STEM and entrepreneurship education.
The President of Academic University College, Professor Fred Mc Bagonluri, said the inauguration marked a new journey in the life of the Academic University College established four years agoto provide first class and innovative university education.
Prof Mc Bagonluri said the vision of the University was to create first class learning centre for entrepreneurship and innovation.
He called on the government to support the private sector to promote quality education delivery in the country and create the right environment to attract private equity in education.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
