Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (CBOD), Senyo Hosi has urged universities to promote the engagement of experienced, innovative and proven corporate and public executives as part of their faculties.

According to him, this will bridge the gap between academia and industry and help sustain the relevance of the education offered by academic institutions by enabling students and faculty to translate theory into practice.

A 2017 Ghana Labour Force Survey Report revealed that some 1.2 million persons from 15 years and above were unemployed, representing a total unemployment rate of 11.9%.

It is estimated that there are more than a quarter of a million unemployed graduates in the country, a situation which is largely blamed on failure on the part of academic institutions to equip students with the needed employable skills, particularly in the area of manufacturing and technology.

Mr Hosi, speaking at a forum organised by the College of Humanities at the University of Cape Coast also called on University lecturers to allow university students to be as creative as possible and to express dissenting views on theories and subjects taught in class.

He said, the use of multi-choice questions limited students’ creativity and left no space for students to think critically when answering questions, a requisite skill to meet the demands of employers.

“It is unacceptable for university students to be examined using multiple-choice questions, which leave absolutely no room for critical thinking or creativity.

“It is unacceptable for lecturers to be reading out notes in class. It is unacceptable for lecturers to suppress dissenting views on theories or opinions, marking down students who dare to think creatively and not reproduce the notes of their lecturers,” he stressed.

“Lecturers must also make it a point to give students copies of their marked scripts, so they learn from the grammatical and analytical errors they make. Otherwise, you will continue to breed students who grow and make a virtue out of their errors,” he added.

He further admonished lecturers to serve as role models to their students and live exemplary lives to shape the attitudes of the students to become responsible employees and business owners after school.