“Degrees are not enough” — Okyenhene demands Universities transform into job-creation engines
Ghana’s traditional leadership has trained sharp criticism at academic institutions that continue churning out certificate-bearing graduates unprepared for the fundamental reality that employment now demands innovation, entrepreneurial acumen and the capacity to solve concrete problems rather than merely recite theoretical knowledge.
Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, the Okyenhene, delivered his challenge during the formal investiture of Professor Eric Kwasi Ofori as Vice-Chancellor of Garden City University.
The occasion, marking the institution’s 18th Congregation ceremony, offered the traditional leader a platform from which to articulate his vision for educational transformation across the Ghanaian university system.
The Okyenhene contextualised his critique within a landscape of unprecedented technological and economic upheaval. Artificial intelligence proliferates.
Climate disruption accelerates. Public health crises emerge with regularity. Labour markets transform at velocities that outpace institutional curriculum revision. Within this maelstrom of change, universities persist in pedagogical approaches calibrated for economies that no longer exist.
“The significance of today’s ceremony extends beyond one individual.
We are living in a rapidly changing world shaped by technological advancement, artificial intelligence, climate change, public health challenges, economic uncertainty and evolving labour markets. Universities must therefore become centres of innovation, entrepreneurship, research and problem-solving,” the Okyenhene stated.
His critique extended toward the capacity gap afflicting Ghanaian entrepreneurship. Young people across the nation possess the psychological prerequisites for enterprise creation — determination, creative vision, willingness to risk.
Yet the translation of entrepreneurial ambition into operational reality encounters formidable barriers. Universities, he suggested, bear partial responsibility for this gap by failing to equip students with the practical skills and institutional connections necessary to navigate the challenges of business formation.
“Today, many young people in our country have the talent, determination and entrepreneurial spirit to start their own businesses. However, doing so is often very difficult.
We must create an enabling environment that makes it possible for young people to establish and grow their own enterprises,” the Okyenhene observed.
He located the continental stakes in this educational debate. Africa’s economic future hinges fundamentally upon the calibre of graduates emerging from its universities and their demonstrable capacity to address real-world challenges.
Mere credential accumulation cannot serve as proxy for institutional effectiveness.
What matters is the production of thinking individuals capable of innovation, possessed of ethical grounding and equipped to generate employment opportunities for others.
“The future of jobs in Africa will depend on our ability to produce graduates who are not merely degree holders, but critical thinkers, innovators, ethical leaders and job creators,” the Okyenhene emphasised.
His remarks reflected a conviction rooted in decades of traditional leadership. Education, in his assessment, represents the most defensible long-term investment any society can undertake.
Development floweth from educated populations; prosperity emerges from societies that systematically cultivate human capital.
“Throughout my reign, I have consistently championed educational advancement because I firmly believe that the development of our people is the foundation upon which a prosperous society is built,” Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin stated.
The Okyenhene deployed the newly elevated Vice-Chancellor’s biography as evidence supporting his thesis.
Professor Ofori’s trajectory from provincial origins in Kyebi to internationally recognised scholarship to leadership of a premier Ghanaian university testified to education’s transformative potential. Geography need not determine destiny; educational opportunity can transmute circumstance into achievement.
“The story of Professor Kwesi Ofori profoundly illustrates that where you are born does not determine your destiny. Education has the power to transform a young boy from Kyebi into a respected scholar, an internationally recognised academic, and now the Vice-Chancellor of one of Ghana’s most respected universities,” the traditional leader noted.
His closing exhortation directed universities toward expanded investment in innovation infrastructure, entrepreneurship programming and research facilities designed to equip graduates with both intellectual depth and practical capability.
The institution’s obligation transcends credential issuance; it encompasses equipping young Africans to drive economic transformation and generate livelihoods across the continent.
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