The Minister Counsellor for Education at the Ghana High Commission in London, Mrs. Emelia Enin has stressed on the importance of educating youth in building tomorrow's global leaders.
She has also challenged Ghanaian students studying abroad to pass up the glamour of corner offices and large bonuses and return home after their studies to assist in transforming the country.
Mrs Enin was addressing the first graduation ceremony of the London School of Management and Technology in London.
At the first graduation ceremony of the school 170 students received various honours for successful completion of their first degree programmes while 40 passed out with Masters Degrees and five going for their doctorate honours.
Over 80 percent of the graduates were Africans who entered the country to pursue education and thus enhancing their scope of knowledge and skills to support the socio-economic development of the respective countries
Founded in the year 2000 with 20 undergraduate students the University has seen fantastic expansion especially in terms of student population and now has a total student population of over 2000 pursuing a wide diverse of programmes from first to Doctorate degree.
The university mostly enrols student from third world countries, mainly from African and the Asian countries. There are currently over 1000 African students from Africa about 70 percent of them being Ghanaians
She said the 21st century is seen as a period of educational revolution in the third world. Many enthusiastic young men and women and even some old folks continue to pursue higher education from all fronts.
?You are the privileged few who have access to education,' she said. What you do with your education, when you have all of the resources, is your decision. Are you the leaders of tomorrow prepared to take the challenge? Are you prepared to forgo the fat pay checks and make do with the meagre pay checks?. She enquired
Mrs Enin observed that the future of the country would, to a large extend, depends on ?people who are today acquiring education for a better tomorrow.?
She therefore asked them grandaunts to consider returning home to help build Ghana.
The Principal of the school, Dr David Smeeton noted that education continues to be survival factor for many a people. A choice of school for a long-life is therefore very important especially foreign students pursuing education in the United Kingdom.
He therefore urged prospective students from third world countries to consider all your options before they rush off and apply to colleges or universities in the UK, adding that LSMT has wide-range of options for students from the third world
A Ghanaian lecturer at the school, Mr. William Kwakye said education is the foundation of change and emphasized the need for equal education for both male and female students. He said the government could invest more in education if even though a substantial percentage of the nation?s budget goes into funding education.
This is because the development of the country, now and in future to a large extend depends on education
He said the world today is a global one. High technology and sophisticated system of trade, commerce, and media among others have led all forms of human interaction.
This obviously calls for knowledge, skill and high level of expertise for one to be able to compete favourably in all spheres of human endeavour.
