Bawumia charges academic institutions to leverage technology to train next leaders

Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia has urged management of tertiary and other training institutions to fully embrace and leverage technology to train the next generation of leaders.

The Vice-President made the call at the launch of the 60th anniversary celebrations of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) in Accra yesterday.

Dr Bawumia alluded to the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the world, especially on teaching and learning activities.

He, however, said it had also provided an opportunity for schools such as UGBS to leverage technology in order to build on their competitive advantages, expose students to artificial intelligence, and help them explore big data and internet of things to help position them as global citizens.

Embracing technology

He noted that embracing technology would enable the faculties find different ways to actively engage students’ experiential learning, game-based learning and problem-based learning to help impart soft skills such as autonomy, creativity, leadership and effective collaboration.

“These are in no doubt linked to the 21st century skills of critical thinking and problem-solving, collaboration, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective oral and written communication, accessing and analyzing information and curiosity and imagination. These must become integral in your curriculum revisions, going forward,” he emphasised.

The Vice-President also called on school to collaborate with other departments and schools in the university and beyond to run core competence programmes that will help churn out change agents with critical and localised skills that would feed into the nation’s developmental agenda.

“We have to run programmes that are practical and experiential enough to generate interest from industry and civil society organisations. I am aware of the tendency to over theorise while offering instructions to students, that is why I am calling for a fairly balanced synchrony between theory and practice. Because I know that the theoretical framework of any area of specialty is also very important,” he said.

Research admonition

In the area of research, he encouraged the school to adopt the triple helix model – that is a set of interactions between academia, industry and government, to foster economic and social development.

“We encourage you to provide solutions to businesses and government on issues of innovation in business and policy for mutual benefits,” the Vice-President added

Paying tribute to first Council of the school, which consisted of stalwarts such as Mr Kojo Botsio as Chairman, Mr R. S. Amegashie as Principal, Mr T.B.G.S. Addo, Mr H. A. Dodoo, Mr A. F. Greenwood, Mr J. S. Lipscomb, Mr H. P. Nelson, Mr Kweku Akwei, Mr J. T. Alexander, and Mr T. K. Impraim, Dr Bawumia said after 60 years of providing varied training, it is now time to do some introspection.

“This occasion of 60 years’ anniversary should be a time of some kind of renaissance. We should also do some introspection and see how the future can be made more meaningful for all of us. The theme chosen is therefore very appropriate. Our mission now should be to move at a faster pace in order to be ahead. The clarion call now should be re-awakening, re-assessment and revitalization of our focus,” he said

The Vice-President also handed over to the authorities of the UGBS 100 laptops in fulfilment of a pledge made on January 13, 2022 during the launch of the school’s ‘One Student One Laptop’ initiative.

The initiative was birthed during the COVID-19 period when teaching and learning were moved online and aims to assist underprivileged students with free laptops to ensure effective online learning.

He further underscored the changing nature of the teaching and learning process, urging the alumni of the school and corporate bodies to help achieve the vision of ensuring no student is left behind.