The caliber of graduates from the tertiary institutions lies at the heart of industrial development. By the caliber I mean, “quality of the level of someone’s ability”, by Graduate I mean, “a person who has successfully completed an academic degree, course of training etc” and by tertiary institution I mean, “universities as well as institutions that teach specific capacities of higher learning such as colleges, technical training institutions, nursing schools etc.” Gone are the days when the quality of graduates churned out from our universities and polytechnics was highly recommended. They were the toast of employers and industry. They were revered. They were well trained as well as well remunerated. Today the graduates from our tertiary institutions have to go through strenuous processes to get decent jobs and earn decent wages and salaries. A fresh graduate from the university now carries his CV as if it were a Bible or a Quran. In fact there is now formed an Unemployed Graduates Association of Ghana. For what will make a group of graduates form such an association instead of a Ghana Young Employer’s Association, I do not know.

A story is told of a gentleman who listed swimming as a hobby in his CV, he got the job and one day decided to pull a fast one on his boss. His text message to his boss read “Hello boss, I will be unable to come to work tomorrow, due to heavy rains. I live on an island now” he concluded and he got a very nice response from his boss. “In your job application you mentioned swimming as your hobby, see you at work at 7am”. Jesus he exclaimed. I am wondering why he called Jesus? Perhaps he didn’t know Heaven helps those who help themselves. This story together with many others only go to prove the extent to which our fresh graduates can lie to get jobs. Can we blame them, as they are desperate? Desperate situations they say require desperate measures. Now the competition is growing keener when we have graduates from overseas universities come back to contend for jobs with their brothers and sisters who graduated from universities and polytechnics here.

Too much emphasis has been laid on theory instead of practical training. Also government continues to withdraw support to the public tertiary institutions, these institutions now look at alternative ways to survive resulting in the mass admission of so many people with its resultant negative effects on quality teaching and learning. What will make Goldman Sachs offer internship placement opportunities for students of Ashesi University and not any of our public tertiary institutions?

There is also Clear Disconnect between Industry and Academia. The academia must make effort to bring industry into what they are doing. There should be formation of meaningful partnerships that really work in practice; not theory. Some tertiary institutions are doing this beautifully, others must learn. And I must admit that as industry we must also consider how we can get closer to academia to help. It should not always be ‘the academia is not coming to us in the industry’. It should be something the industry also considers as important or serious and move to show our resolve to help address this challenge. It is not the best to always complain.

Furthermore students have failed to take their education into their own hands. Being a good, all-round, fully-equipped student ready for the job market does not depend on the school one attends (university or polytechnic, etc). It depends on the student. Students that do not know what they are about and do not have clear goals and direction of where they are going will certainly not get anywhere. Some are just in school for being in school – after JHS, go to SHS, after SHS go to the tertiary – so they are where they are without any real thought. They have not sat down to clearly think and consult on what they should be doing. Similarly they leave the tertiary institution and now realize that getting to the next stage is different from how they have been moving. They are not ready to sacrifice the short term today for the long term benefits. (no pain, no gain).

To produce a ready market graduate from tertiary level institutions, skills development must be systematically inculcated in the training of these graduates. Skills Development creates a workforce empowered with the necessary and upgraded abilities, knowledge and internationally recognized qualifications to gain access to decent employment and ensure competitiveness in the dynamic job market. It aims at increasing the productivity and employability of workforce (wage earning and self-employed) both in the formal and the informal sectors. Skills development can help build a “virtuous circle” in which the quality and relevance of education and training for graduates fuels innovation, investment, technological change, enterprise development, economic diversification and competitiveness that economies need to accelerate the creation of more jobs.

Also as you are aware, Skills have become increasingly important in the globalized world. Vocational and technical skills are essential, but employers are seeking applicants with more, that is those who have multiple abilities and can effectively multi-task. They want employees who can continue to learn and adapt, write and compute competently, listen and communicate effectively, think creatively, solve problems independently, manage themselves at work, interact with co-workers and work in teams or groups, handle basic technology and lead effectively as well as follow supervision. These core skills for employability are both important to employers’ recruitment and enhance an individual’s ability to secure a job, retain employment and move flexibly in the labour market as well as engage in lifelong learning.

According to the Ghana Statistical Service, the unemployment rate now stands at 5.2%. This affirms the situation where graduates today are characterized by unemployment and underemployment, lower quality jobs and difficult transitions into decent work, which combined, contribute to the detachment of the current generation from the labour market altogether. A skilled workforce goes hand in hand with economic growth. Skills development needs to be part of a comprehensive, integrated strategy for growth that improves the lives of all. Many graduates face difficulties in finding a job apparently because of the mismatch between their education/training and labour market requirements. Most of the practical things one does at the workplace are not taught verbatim in the classroom for one to cram in their heads and come to the workplace and ‘recite’ as working. A student who is thinking and desirous of readily fitting into a working environment, learns of what happens at the work environment while in school. The things one learn at school are applied at the work place. There are vacations for one to eagerly seek industrial attachment opportunities to start applying what they are studying in school and learn how the job environment applies what they are learning in schools. When one does this, they come out of school ready for the job market and the job market also knows them because they had been there. Innovation, technology and market developments have turned the world of work into a fast-changing environment. There is a need to equip a growing young graduate workforce with skills required for the jobs of the future, not to mention re-equipping the current workforce with the skills required to keep up with a changing world. The greatest challenge lies in the technology-and knowledge-intensive sectors that also have the highest potential for economic growth and employment.

Moreover linkage between training Institutions and industry is also a necessity to ensure ready market graduate. Good quality primary and secondary education, complemented by relevant vocational training and skills development opportunities, prepare future generations for their productive lives, endowing them with the core skills that enable them to continue learning. Cognitive research suggests that key employability skills, such as critical thinking and problem-solving, is dependent on deep content knowledge and cannot be taught in isolation. So teaching such skills requires innovative ways of delivering the academic curricula; it’s not about developing a core skills curriculum. The question is how best to integrate these skills into core academic content. Learning environments require curricula and assessment systems that allow students to think creatively and collaborate. It is crucial to design curricula and assessment systems that emphasize authentic real world problems, engage students in inquiry and exploration and provide opportunities for students to apply what they know in meaningful ways. Curricular development units, Guidance and Counselling as well as Quality Assurance systems in educational institutions must take their roles very seriously. The world is evolving very fast and our education must move ahead of it, at best. At worst, our education should move along with the change. Various methods have been included in modern teacher training to enhance the learning process of such skills as team-work, advanced communication, critical thinking and problem-solving. One is interactive teaching, through which instructors facilitate exercises that provide opportunities for experience, practice, reinforcement, and reflection.

Using a coach in a workplace setting through on-the-job training work experience, internships, and work-study programmes are all examples of teaching both technical and core skills in the workplace in a manner that achieves optimal authenticity. The disadvantage of this method is the difficulty of finding employers who will provide both opportunities and a qualified coach to ensure that learning does not compromise workplace productivity.

Altering aspects of the classroom setting where general education or technical skills are being taught to workforce entrants so that the classroom simulates the workplace is another proven technique. This approach, which includes practice firms, workshops, experiential learning and role play, provides an authentic context for teaching and practicing core work skills that gives the teacher control over the teaching agenda, while creating an environment that benefits from the improved job-related skills of its students.

To improve the opportunities for youth to gain access to good jobs, secondary education has to be made more equitable and more inclusive, offering the widest possible range of opportunities in order to meet young people’s differing abilities, interests and background. Achieving equity and inclusiveness is important not only because education is a universal right, but also because countries need an educated workforce to compete in the modern global economy.

At the secondary level, few governments are able to provide the number of seats for students and also provide the teachers needed for the increasingly larger cohorts of primary school graduates. Statistics from the International Labor Organization indicate that, the total cost of putting a child through a year of secondary school in Sub-Saharan Africa is three to twelve times that of a year of primary school, due to higher costs for teaching materials and infrastructure. The private cost of secondary school for students makes it prohibitive for many.

Many countries, especially those with large youth populations, are struggling to provide sufficient secondary school options for eligible students. Secondary schooling is often not free and school fees are progressively more expensive, requiring substantial contributions from households. In Sub-Saharan Africa, household contributions cover 30 to 60 per cent of the cost of secondary schooling according to the ILO. The limited availability of schools in remote, inaccessible, or particularly impoverished regions of developing countries restricts the participation of marginalized youth.

Second-chance programmes aim to provide basic skills corresponding to the primary education curriculum so as to improve young people’s employability. Without a second chance to learn basic skills, young people are unlikely to be able to develop core skills for employability. Programmes that engage youth throughout adolescence and are tailored to address the specific circumstances leading to drop out or lack of attendance appear to be the most effective. Practical curricula, flexible schedules, and less formal instruction methods are likely to attract and retain young people.

The way forward is to focus on Youth Enterprise Development. The 21^st century is a century of entrepreneurship. It is not a century of job seeking, neither is a time of attending workshops on CV writing, interview skills etc. The fact still remains, centuries will be shaped by us the young people who will drive the needed change. Understanding how businesses operate gives young people a better understanding of the world of work, enhancing their employability. Entrepreneurial training can provide youth with basic financial and business literacy, a stronger understanding of the needs of the enterprise, and an awareness of the need for initiative, innovation and creative problem-solving disciplined by teamwork and cooperation.

Why are graduates from our tertiary institutions struggling on the same space with unskilled or low skilled labour. Today, young graduate’s degrees and diplomas are even applying for job positions as bartenders, office assistants, waitresses and waiters. Why not set up businesses and employ instead of fight with them. Apostle Safo founder of great kosa group had little or no education at all, today he has helped promote Ghana’s image abroad by manufacturing vehicles that can compete anywhere.

It is crucial to allow our students to do more classroom work but let us also be open to the idea of helping them engage in extra-circular activities. From experience I dare say programs like the Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) and Junior Achievement (JA) help to build the leadership, entrepreneurial skills of our high school students to make them work force ready. From here let us begin the discussions as we need to appreciate the fact that these programs can significantly build their entrepreneurial skills. We need to encourage our brothers and sisters in schools to learn something apart from the mainstream. The fact is, the window of employment is very narrow, so year in year out, the job market cannot and will not absorb all the graduates from the over 50 tertiary institutions each year. The big question is where do the majority who are unable to gain employment go? To join the Unemployed Graduates Association or the Ghana Young Employers Association?

It is important to make the point that skills development and youth empowerment are issues of national interest. Both government and stakeholders involved in building the capacity, competencies and capabilities of the tertiary graduates would essentially have to increase their efforts at building the capacities of our graduates by giving them the requisite skills. Let us remember that the graduate population that is employable and have the required skills that the job market is looking for together with those who would establish their own businesses are the hope for the economic emancipation of the country.

This world is for those who will submit to training and are prepared to learn. Strong linkage between industry and our academic institutions would guarantee that our industries will be ready to take on seasoned graduates from our institutions.

By Mr. Dela Gadzanku

*The writer is the 1^st Vice Chair (Eastern/Volta Region Branch) Of The Association Of Ghana Industries (AGI)