President of the Christian Service University College, Prof. Samuel Afrane says the way out of graduate unemployment in Ghana is entrepreneurship.

A research by the World Bank indicates Ghana is faced with 12% youth unemployment and more than 50% underemployment.

Speaking at the 44th graduation ceremony, of the CSUC in Kumasi, Prof. Afranie urged graduates to venture into entrepreneurship.

"Entrepreneurship is very important for every graduate.

At Christian Service University College, we see it as a very important component of our studies.

"Every student, takes at least one entrepreneurship class before they graduate, we also organise seminars and workshops on entrepreneurship from time to time.

"For this semester, we organized a virtual entrepreneurship class, where we invited people to speak on entrepreneurship. 

"Not everybody will find a job in the public or formal sector, so graduates should think of developing their own businesses and they must also be creative so that they don't go home and stay for a very long time. 

"Graduates should look around them and develop entrepreneurship ideas and begin to work on them.

"You are graduating at a time the world is battling a global pandemic, with severe social and economic ramifications.

"The pessimist sees difficult in every opportunity, while the optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty" he said

A total of 519 students graduated from the university.

Prof. Afranie, noted private universities cannot survive, without the help of the government. 

He appealed to the government, to expand its scholarship scheme to private universities. 

"I cannot end my speech, without re-echoing the appeal to government to support private universities in Ghana.

"The private universities, are stretching their thin resources to contribute to human resource development in the country and they cannot, do this effectively without government assistance. 

"While appreciating recent efforts to provide scholarships, to some students in private tertiary institutions, we believe more could be done, to promote private sector participation in higher education delivery for the general good of our dear country.

"We pray and hope, that the in-coming administration will give more attention to this appeal in the coming years" Prof Afranie noted.

Chairperson of Star Ghana Foundation, Dr. Esther Oduraa Ofei-Aboagye, emphasized on the need for government to support private universities.

"Given the demands of the world we find ourselves today and the hurdles that private tertiary institutions face, it is important that they are supported in a way that integrates them more effectively, into national tertiary education delivery.

"It is clear that increasing enrollment into public universities is not the answer to ensuring high quality education and academic standards.

"The current student teacher ratios in the public universities, are undesirable higher than the standards set by the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE).

"If government is going to provide scholarships, for SHS graduates for tertiary education, it is important that private universities benefit from these facilities along with public tertiary institutions.

"It will give practical implementation, to the expressions of public-private partnerships in education delivery, to which this country has declared commitment" she stressed