The 'Relevant' university: The ghanaian experience

Abstract

There is a need for the creation of a new generation of universities in Africa that address the development requirements of the continent and focus on community problem solving. Some of the challenges that must be met to turn this vision into reality include: relating academic knowledge to industry- required skills; developing relevant curricula; offering quality education in the face of a student population explosion; relevant staff development and training; funding for universities; and promoting the ideal to emergent new universities. In Ghana, the word ‘relevance’ dominates the discourse of the government, industry, and the press in matters relating to the universities, which are often chastised as ‘Ivory Towers’ whose works do not transform society. Government and the captains of industry in Ghana complain that graduates from Ghanaian universities need to be retrained to fit into jobs they offer. They often urge universities to move from abstract knowledge and theories to a more skills and hands-on training that would meet development needs. For university education to be relevant to development there is the need to create an interface between the universities and the public and private stakeholders. To create and sustain this interface, universities need to: take the initiative and market their relevance so that public and private institutions including industries can use their resources and expertise to achieve their set goals and objectives; create space to engage stakeholders through well- designed workshops and seminars and publications to disseminate research findings; see the public and private sectors as partners in research and project design, drawing on the practical experiences of the former; prioritise the policy implications of research findings for government and industry; enhance interaction between students and these stakeholders through career counselling and on-the-job training experiences for students; restructure existing courses, and introduce new courses.