Society must reap from universities research

Accra, Feb. 9, GNA - University students were on Wednesday tasked to be innovative and to make research, a major advantage in tertiary education, relevant to the development goals of the nation.

Speakers at a symposium the Valley View University held at their campus, Oyibi, Accra, underscored the need for students to be creative and to "go beyond what they learnt in the classroom and to explore the unknown that would put them on the map of knowledge".

Mr Paul Effah, Executive Secretary, National Council for Tertiary Education, said knowledge must be relevant to the development of one's community. Mr Kojo Opare Hammond, Member of Parliament (MP) for Adenta supported the same view.

Mr Effah said the students should strengthen their research capabilities and skills with the aim of linking their findings to business and industry.

Similarly, Mr Nicholas Donkor, Vice President of the Students' Association, echoed the need for research in the universities to be supported by industry being the direct beneficiary of such works.

The symposium, which was on the theme: "Private Tertiary Institutions: The Backbone of the Nation's Manpower Development" was held to mark the Valley View Students' Association (VAVIUSA) week celebration.

Mr Effah said there was the need for private tertiary institutions to collaborate with the public universities to study science and medicine, which the nation urgently needed in her development efforts. Private universities hold the key to the nation's development because they had been engaged in new faculty studies at a time that the nation needed such areas to accelerate her development, he said, He said the Government would continue to provide the congenial atmosphere for the private institutions to achieve academic excellence.

Mr Hammond said the affiliation to faculties of private tertiary institutions to outside countries had given credence to their degrees and certificates.

He said private universities needed help to expand to provide access to the many that could not otherwise find admission into the public ones.