Expand educational infrastructure to create opportunities for brilliant youth – Prof Awandare

Prof Gordon Awandare, Pro Vice Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs, University of Ghana, has emphasised the need for the expansion of educational infrastructure to create opportunities for the many brilliant youth in the country.

Citing the instance of the University of Ghana, he said a lot of qualified candidates were unable to access tertiary education due to the limited spaces available.

‘All the educational institutions are crying for infrastructure, teachers, lecturers. We need more personnel to expand the opportunities so that we do not have students who have all A’s but cannot get admission to do what they want,’ he said.

Prof Awandare was speaking on the sidelines of a panel discussion on the topic: ‘Promoting Education for Sustainable Development’ at the 75th Annual Year School School and Conference (ANYSC) at the University of Ghana in Accra.

Touching on collaboration between industry and academia, he asked local industries to make long-term investments in order to derive maximum benefit f
rom partnerships with training institutions.

Prof Awandare believed some industry-academia initiatives were not yielding the needed results as industry players often sought instant returns from their collaborations with academia.

He, therefore, urged businesses to commit resources to research and development as educational institutions worked to meet the needs of industry.

‘There are lots of talents in academia; we have very smart, brilliant people. We need to put their brains to use and that means industry has to engage with academia and be willing to be patient and let the ideas grow,’ he stated.

‘Industry is quick to complain that academia is not responding to their needs…and I say it is a partnership. Industries must be willing to think long-term. You cannot always be looking for what is in it for me tomorrow or today…the mindset needs to be more long-term,’ Prof. Awandare said.

Source: Ghana News Agency