President-Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management Ghana (CIHRM), Dr. Edward Kwapong, has on behalf of the Institute conferred an Honorary Fellowship on the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum.
The conferral was done on the sidelines of CIHRM Ghana’s 15th Graduation ceremony on Thursday 30th November 2023 at the Shippers Authority auditorium, Ridge-Accra.
Dr. Kwapong explained that the status of Fellow is the highest level to which a member of the HR professional institute or anyone in Corporate/Industry can aspire.
The CIHRM Ghana president congratulated graduates for the sacrifice and self-denial they have gone through. He cautioned that the certificate is only a licence to the theatre, adding: “Your continued stay, progression and elevation at your workplace will depend on how well you apply this certificate to the demands of your work at the workplace”.
CEO-CIHRM Ghana, Dr. Ebenezer Ofori Agbettor, added that as a Fellow or Honorary Fellow, you should be able to hold your own and make pronouncements on any situation in the profession with which you may be confronted. He revealed that the Minister for Education has done so on many fronts, especially in relation to the institute obtaining a Charter Status and the Legislative Instrument (LI), which matured on 28th November 2023, after it was laid in parliament 21 days ago with the number LI 2474.
The Professional Certification Board chairman presented 316 graduates consisting of 58 men and 258 women. This is the second-largest congregation that the institute has presented.
He hinted that this year, a total of one thousand, one hundred and twenty-five (1,125) students wrote exams across the Examination Centres in Kumasi, Ho, Takoradi, Accra and for the first time in Sunyani. These numbers represent candidates who wrote in January and July Examinations of 2023.
Dr. Adutwum, who was guest-speaker at the ceremony, underscored the importance of relevant university programmes in tackling prevailing unemployment challenges confronting the nation.
Speaking under the theme ‘Making Tertiary and Professional Education Count in the World of Work’, Dr. Adutwum said higher education institutions are integral to empowering individuals with the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in today’s competitive job landscape.
“When the students come out, they have to come out as people who are qualified for the world of work. You see, sometimes we just blame the economy and say the economy is not growing fast enough, that is why we are not securing jobs. But sometimes, you know, as HR professionals the CVs that you get, you don’t have the appetite to hire,” he stated.
The Ghana Statistical Service’s Annual Household and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) revealed that the unemployment rate rose from 13.4 percent to 13.9 percent (1.8 million people) in the second quarter of 2022.
Only about 10 percent of all university graduates gain employment in public service annually, according to the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA).
Acknowledging the rapidly evolving nature of industries and the emergence of new job sectors, Dr. Adutwum stressed the need for educational programmes that adapt to these changes.
He emphasised that fostering collaboration between academia and industries is crucial to ensuring students are equipped with practical skills demanded by the workforce.
“Recently, the demand for national service personnel is so interesting that more companies are looking for those who graduated with mathematics degrees and computer science – and they can’t find them. So, in tertiary education and beyond, we have to look at the relevance of programmes that are offered in our universities; and that’s when we can begin to talk about transformation.
“So, if you hear me talk about STEM and STEM and STEM, it’s not for the fun of it. It is laying a strong foundation for our country in a way our education system will be relevant to the needs of our country,” he stated.
