Prof. Domwini Dabire Kuupole, the former Vice Chancellor, University of Cape Coast has bemoaned the graduate unemployment situation in the country stating that the situation keeps on worsening year after year.
“The bitter truth is that, many of the graduates from our tertiary institutions struggle to find jobs after national service and the situation keeps worsening year after year” Prof. Kuupole noted.
He made the observation in a speech he delivered at the 10th Congregation of the Presbyterian University College, Ghana, on the theme “Graduate Unemployment: Education For What?”.
Prof. Kuupole said education should aim at giving the young people the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will help to build society and ensure sustainable development of the nation. But he noted with regret that the national tertiary education policy has remained out of step with time.
The former Vice Chancellor of UCC posited that many of our educational training institutions focus mainly on providing knowledge to the students without adequate provision for practical training of what they learn in their books.
He believes that the problem can be addressed adequately if the government and management of tertiary institutions work closely with the private sector to promote internships, graduate trainee programmes, and community-based projects that create jobs for young people.
Prof. Kuupole also called for entrepreneurship to be a mandatory experience for all students and critical starter packs or soft loans from Banks with state guarantee made available, as a measure to effectively deal with the graduate unemployment phenomenon.
According to him many of the young people in our tertiary institutions have very wonderful business ideas and if they are provided with the right nurturing and sensitization by way of academic training in entrepreneurial development, they can easily set up their own businesses after school and succeed.
Read the full speech here