Academic City education: Grooming a generation of problem solvers for Africa

Tertiary education plays a critical and positive role in the development of every nation. The increasing global recognition of relevant tertiary education as a major driver of economic transformation has contributed to the growing demand for high quality tertiary education. To this end, educational institutions the world over are focused on training problem solvers, applying available human and technological resources.

In Ghana, relevant tertiary education remains a key consideration on the country’s development agenda for obvious reasons. To ensure accelerated industrial growth for improved livelihood of Ghanaians as well as economic development, there is the need for higher education institutions both public and private to equip graduates with job-relevant skills to meet the demands of the job market.

Over the years, the disconnect between tertiary education and skills required for the job market have featured highly on studies and public discourses. Key industry players such as the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) have in the past expressed concern over the lack of requisite skilled, as well as professional and competent labour force for the fast growing and changing industry.

Former President of AGI, Mr. James Asare Adjei at the CEO’s Breakfast and British Council Skills Hub Launch remarked “You have young graduates who are looking for employment and they say they can’t find jobs but we have employers in industry who also say they have so many vacancies they cannot fill them. The question is how do we reconcile the two and ensure the gaps are filled. I think what we can do is the businesses themselves are trying to work with academic institutions to give the needed capacity building to the young graduates to fit needs of industry.”

In an effort to equip graduates to become relevant and competitive in the job market, Academic City College, a fast developing premium university in Ghana was established to offer innovative programmes tailored toward preparing students with the necessary skills and professional training to help them unlock their future.

Academic City’s fully digitized state-of-the-art campus is situated at Haatso, a suburb of Accra – Ghana. It has a diverse academic community of students, faculty as well as staff from across the world. The ultra-modern campus offers small class sizes in an environment that emphasizes one-on-one attention.

Academic City prides itself on educating ‘Future Ready Problem Solvers’. The university’s elite undergraduate degree programmes in Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration and Communication Arts are carefully and strategically designed taking into consideration world class STEM education to develop students to become more practical, hands-on and productive.

At Academic City, students spend about 70% of their time applying the theory from the classroom on real life situations, under the guidance of distinguished faculty, with enviable industry-experience, from different parts of the world. The rich experience of faculty in the real workspace has proven to aid students in employing an effective hands-on learning approach in the classroom, referring students to verifiable industry case studies to make the learning process more applicable.

Prof. Fred McBagonluri, President of Academic City remarked “Our teaching and learning methodology promotes unrestrictive ideation and creative freedom among students, giving wings to their creativity and imagination to solve complex challenges in an innovative way.”

The university provides every student an equal opportunity to be a leader. With a student-centered environment, students are able to come up with innovative initiatives and are guided to commence their big dream right on campus before graduation. Entrepreneurship and leadership are very much encouraged across the board. The university’s Technology and Entrepreneurial Center offers students a space to explore their creative ideas without restrictions. Academic City has one of the best equipped STEM workshops in Ghana furnished with real industry machinery and equipment to offer students a first-hand experience of how these machines operate.

A report by the World Economic Forum has projected that Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will take over about 30% jobs in the next decade. As a forward-thinking educational institution, Academic City is on the verge of becoming the first university in Ghana to offer degrees in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics Engineering and Biomedical Engineering.

According to Prof. Fred McBagonluri, President of Academic City “We have submitted all the necessary documentations to the National Accreditation Board for approval. Hopefully, we will get the approval on time to commence soon.”

The university recently launched its newest programmes in BSc. Industrial and Systems Engineering and BBA. Entrepreneurship. The premium hands-on programmes are carefully crafted to prepare transformation ethical leaders for Africa, through creativity, critical thinking, innovation, teamwork and dedication.

To ensure the young African students continue to enjoy life defining world-class university education during this uncertain time, Academic City has rolled out its unique tuition package as part of measures to ease the financial burden on parents. The package includes s extended limited period of an early bird tuition reduction up to 50% for selected programmes.

Academic City since its inception has proven its resolve to change the narrative for higher education in Africa and is committed to providing the best education attainable anywhere in the world, whether it be through online or blended or in contact learning.

It is indeed the fastest developing premium university striving, against all the unprecedented odds to be the best in Ghana and throughout the African continent. Students and parents, amongst all this global uncertainty, Academic City is here for you.