An educationist and member of the Council of Ghana Education Service, Anis Haffar, has challenged students of Heritage Christian College (HCC), a university in Amasaman-Accra to acquire cutting-edge skills to position them favourably in a competitive global market.

He noted that, although there is a high rate of graduate unemployment in Ghana and Africa, the society still hungers for graduates with practical skills that can transform different sectors of the economy.

Anis Haffar was speaking at the 4th Matriculation of Heritage Christian College in Amasaman-Accra. He stressed the need for students to develop their potentials to the maximum, lead themselves, use technology to solve problems and add value to themselves to become the go-to persons in their fields.

At this year’s ceremony, 95 students made up of 70 males and 25 females matriculated. The event was on the theme, “Is our Tertiary Education Preparing Graduates to be Globally Competent?” This year’s theme highlights one of the Core Values of HCC—Global Competence.

The President of the university, Dr. Samuel Twumasi-Ankrah stated that, although the university is only 4 years old, it is redefining university education is Ghana and Africa as it practically expresses the university’s Core Values of Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy, Ethics and Global Competence.

To illustrate this fact, the President cited the global award won by 3 HCC students in the world-wide student innovation contest in the University of San Diego, the Global Social Innovation Challenge (2018) with a seed capital of $16,500 to begin their business of producing charcoal from human excreta.

Furthermore, 22 HCC students were awarded a total of GHC100,000 in the HCC Start-Up Challenge (2018) to start their own businesses. He added that, on HCC’s Day of Philanthropy (2018), students and staff mobilized and donated GHC10,000 to the Village of Hope Orphanage in Gomoa Fetteh.

There were also a series of seminars on Ethics and Christian Values to further ground the students and the HCC Community in these Core Values of HCC.

The Provost of the university, Dr. Williams Atuilik urged students to take advantage of all the opportunities at HCC to prepare themselves to excel in life after graduating.