Ghana's Economy Cannot Take Up Fresh Graduates - Prof. Kwesi Yankah

The President of Central University College, Prof. Kwesi Yankah says Ghana�s economy has currently reached a point, where it could no longer receive fresh graduates from the universities. Speaking to Joy News on Tuesday, in reaction to President Mahama's challenge to tertiary institutions to structure their courses to fit the demands of the job market, Prof. Yankah noted that the problem should be attributed to the limited capacity in the economy in absorbing graduates into the system. He also acknowledged that the challenge is partly due to the lack of data in determining the performance of graduates and the relevance of what they go out into the job market to do. The president who was addressing the media in a forum to mark his one year in office observed that even though the country is training a lot of graduates, the structure of the economy does not immediately absorb them. He therefore called for an alignment of programmes in the universities to suit what the job market is looking for, noting that the current system of training students in the universities in any area and throwing them in the job market without success in getting jobs, is not a useful exercise. "There should be job market survey to educate the students on the jobs available on the market", President Mahama stressed. But, Prof. Yankah, who was a former Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, pointed out that there are lots of challenges faced by the economy in absorbing graduates into the system. However, the President of Central University College welcomed calls for the universities to engage a number of stakeholders in the construction of the curricula that will help train graduates in requisite programmes that are absorbable on the job market. According to him, there is considerable dialogue currently going on towards resolving what he called "the disconnect between universities and industry".