The British Council’s Innovation African Universities (IAU) programme has ended with calls on participating universities to adopt innovative entrepreneurship programmes to increase the employability of graduates.
The IAU programme is part of the British Council’s delivery of the Going Global Partnerships programme pillars in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the goal of facilitating Africa-UK Transnational Education (TNE) partnerships for mutual learning and knowledge exchange.
The participating institutions, including the University of Ghana, Accra Technical University, the University of Health and Allied Sciences, and the Regional Maritime University, brought on board innovative entrepreneurship programmes to help students.
Mr. Sean Harris, Acting Country Director for the British Council in Ghana, stated that the programme aimed to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship at higher education institutions.
“This IAU programme is a learning and collaboration platform that brings together universities in the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa and ecosystem players to engage, interact, and learn from each other with the aim of developing mutually beneficial partnerships that strengthen the capacity and capability of Higher Education systems in both geographies.
“The British Council developed this programme to foster the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship within Higher Education Institutions and facilitate the development of skills required to build industries, companies, and products,” he said.
Madam Akorfa Dawson, Higher Education Project Manager, British Council Ghana, said the dire economic situation and uncertainty across the continent triggered the need to explore alternatives and potential solutions to improve the employment situation.
“Higher Education Institutions are producing graduates with limited skills and requiring further training to meet employer needs. While graduates need to be more employable, universities also need to produce job creators instead of job seekers,” she said.
In his presentation, Prof. Ernest Christian Winful, Dean International Programmes and Institutional Cooperation (DIPC) at Accra Technical University, urged graduates to pursue social entrepreneurship as it allowed graduates to make profit while engaging in businesses that were environmentally friendly.
“As graduates are being urged to venture into entrepreneurship, it would be advisable for them to pick up businesses that are environmentally friendly.
“The next generation of entrepreneurs should be more concerned about the environment, and it’s about time we changed our ways of doing business while preserving the environment,” he said.
