Dr Emmanuel Newman, the Director of Tertiary Education of the Ministry of Education, says entrepreneurship remains the pathway to job creation and building a resilient economy for poverty reduction.
He said expertise in the sector ought to do more to change the mindset and equip the unemployed young people with entrepreneurship skills and provide them the required support to build and sustain their businesses.
Addressing the 17th congregation of the Sunyani Technical University (STU), Dr Newman noted that employment in the formal sector was constrained, noting that entrepreneurship presented a transformative solution to tackling unemployment and poverty.
A total of 1,012 graduates who had undergone various programmes in the 2023/2024 academic year were presented with certificates in Master of Technology (MTech), Higher National Diploma, and Diplomas.
The congregation was held on the theme: “Employability and job creation: Leveraging technical and entrepreneurial skills Training”.
Dr Newman indicated that “If Ghana is to remain competitive and drive inclusive growth, then the nation must prioritise skills development in both technical and entrepreneurial domains”.
He underscored the importance of integrating business development services of mentorship, access to finance, and entrepreneurial training into academic programmes, adding that “beyond academic achievement, institutions must foster the entrepreneurial capacity of graduates”.
Dr Newman said the global labour market was undergoing rapid transformation, with emerging technologies and shifting economic demands and thereby requiring new skill sets.
“Each year, thousands of young people graduate, yet many remain unemployed or underemployed, not because they lack potential, but because of a persistent mismatch between educational outcomes and market needs,” he stated.
He said technical universities like STU played a pivotal role in addressing the challenge, asking the university to do more in churning out professionals with innovations.
Dr Newman said the government remained committed to strengthening Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) through infrastructure investments, curriculum reforms, and capacity building.
All these are aimed at producing graduates who are not only employable but empowered to lead change in their communities and industries.
He said programmes like the YouStart, the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), and initiatives by the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) were part of a comprehensive national effort to cultivate entrepreneurial talent and opportunity.
Professor Samuel Awuah-Nyamekye, the Chairman of the Governing Council of the STU, called on technical universities to take the lead role in advancing the practical application of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Innovation.
He said those disciplines were pivotal to driving the nation’s socio-economic transformation agenda, and graduates to be diligent and to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and excellence in their respective career paths.