About 20,000 university graduates who turn out of the nation’s universities annually are unable to find work because they are not prepared enough for the job market by their respective institutions.
According to the Dean of the School of Sciences of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), Professor Samuel Fosu Gyasi, what students learnt and how they were taught in the universities were not tailored to suit the job market.
Prof. Gyasi said this at the Hollard Streetwise Finance Mentoring Day at the UENR in Sunyani in the Bono Region.
Professor Samuel Fosu Gyasi, Dean of the School of Sciences of the University of Energy and Natural Resources, addressing the participants
The event was on the theme: “A better future: Getting ready for the world of work”.
Last year, Hollard Ghana, with its subsidiaries Hollard Insurance and Hollard Life Assurance, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UENR to commence Hollard X Academia.
It is aimed at providing a platform for enhanced collaboration between the insurance group and the university to ensure a better future for students through Hollard’s streetwise finance, mentoring, engagement and resource-sharing programmes.
As part of the agreement, both human and financial resources will be made available to help students bridge the gap between academia and the field of work for a period of three years, after which the agreement will be reassessed.
Situation
According to Prof. Gyasi, the way forward in the prevailing circumstances was for graduates to create their own jobs, noting, however, that due to the fact that they were ill-equipped, coupled with the reality that they lacked resources, many of them were at home.
“Providing the youth with the best opportunity to transition to decent jobs calls for investing in education and training of the highest possible quality,” he said.
He further underscored the need for universities to promote student entrepreneurship, saying: “Promoting student entrepreneurship is certainly one of the ways, but it cannot be the only solution.”
He gave an assurance that the university would continue to build stronger ties, including training and exposure of students to the world of work with organisations, industries and firms such as Hollard.
Collaboration
The Managing Director of Hollard Life Assurance, Iddrisu Nashiru, mentioned the UENR, the University of Cape Coast (UCC), the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) and the University of Ghana (UG) as some of the institutions with which Hollard was collaborating.
According to him, university graduates needed mentoring skills to enable them to perform well and establish their own jobs.
Mr Nashiru, therefore, admonished students to seek mentors with the requisite experience to guide them to establish their own businesses.
He said since the inception of the programme in 2021, Hollard had helped many students to create their own jobs.
Source: graphic.com.gh
