�Ghana needs more Universities� � Prof Dzidonu

Professor Clement K. Dzidonu, President of Accra Institute of Technology (AIT) has argued that the phenomenon of graduate unemployment in the country is not necessarily the result of too many universities. He said some arguments and claims that the challenge was a resultant effect of relatively high number of the nation�s tertiary institutions were not factually acceptable. �Ghana rather needs more universities�, Prof. Dzidonu emphasized and observed �as a nation, we have been training our students over the years as job-seekers and not job-creators�. �We at AIT are going beyond just producing job seekers to train our students to be potential job creators�, he stressed. Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani , the AIT President explained that records at National Accreditation Board (NAB) showed a total of 68 degree awarding tertiary institutions, consisting of 15 public universities, 43 private ones and 10 polytechnics in the country. Prof Dzidonu contended with Ghana�s population of about 25 million, that translated into number of universities per capita (per million populations) of 2.72, which was way below the world average of 18.6 universities per million populations, he added. He said Ghana therefore did not have enough universities to meet the needs of its increasing population. Prof Dzidonu said because of that the institute was introducing in the current semester a special course in Career Development and Employability Studies (CDES) to be taken by level 200 students to prepare and orientate them for the job market and industry. The AIT President therefore stated the CDES would provide the students with the requisite job creation and employability skills that had been identified by employers worldwide as crucial for the modern technologically-driven economy.