Prof. Aderemi Atayero
"Internationalisation is vital for us.
As much as we believe strongly in sourcing for indigenous solutions for our problems, we also welcome international solutions where applicable. Partnerships around the world are, therefore, essential. We recently set up a platform that invites teams of researchers to come and have a feel of our university. The idea is for such researchers to interact with our postgraduate students and get helpful feedback from them. Inviting international faculty helps with the cross-pollination of ideas when it comes to research."
Address Malata
Universities have got a huge role to play to push for entrepreneurship. Partnership with industries is key because you cannot teach these issues on your own. We invite industries on campus and also attract entrepreneurs who have made progress and have stories to tell. The idea of us linking with industries is because they have got some components that universities do not have. We have involved industries in developing our own curriculum/ strategic plan for the university; because we know they know more about entrepreneurship.
Otlogetswe Totolo
Institutions of higher learning must remind themselves that industries are profit-making entities. Our job is to demonstrate our worth or end up becoming redundant. If we cannot provide the services that the sector requires because they doubt our delivery or standards, they will seek out other institutions of learning. We must, therefore, understand our industries so that we can identify gaps that if filled, will make them more substantial profits. We have identified some issues in the mining industry and come up with solutions.
Our research successes in the mining industry have helped us build great partnerships that further our agenda. Universities must step away from having an entitled attitude when dealing with industry and instead develop their value proposition.
Emmanuel Ohene Afoakwa
We are not restricting ourselves to the four corners of the lecture room; we are embedding technology in everything that we do. The fact that you can take classes from work or home is evidence of that. Government intervention is also essential in making life much easier for education providers. An enabling environment will enable educators to provide quality education for the human resource base that they want to train. Short courses for employees in tech industries are provided much to the delight of employers. It is up to those employees to make themselves available for classes or risk being redundant. We must ensure that we can educate our workforce by introducing them to continuous training and allowing them to attend short courses.
