Professor Dato Mansor Fadzil, President of Open University, Malaysia (OUM) has called for diversification of Ghana’s educational sector to enhance quality and affordability.

That, he said, needed good quality leaders who had the interest of the country at heart to come about such transformation.

Speaking in an interview with the media in Accra, Prof Fadzil, who was the special guest at the graduation ceremony of Accra Institute of Technology (AIT), said diversity of Malaysia society enabled every sector to work together in the interest of the country.

“In Malaysia, we diversified our educational system by allowing schools from different countries. And that takes the bravery on the part of the leaders to achieve that,” he said.

He said the vision of OUM was to train graduates, who would think out of the box to provide jobs for themselves and others. “That is why we are here to enhance and improve our collaboration with AIT to move our students to another level.

“We want to deliver flexible and affordable education without compromising on quality,” he said, adding that the type of education that would transform the country into a first-class one.

Professor Clement Dzidonu, President of AIT, expressed his gratitude to OUM for the confidence and trust reposed in AIT, saying, “that alone is a plus for the University”.

He said trust was very helpful to the University’s academic pursuits as they had won on two consecutive awards last year as the top technology university in Ghana and “we owed that recognition to OUM”.

Dr Safia Yusof, Head, International Unit of OUM, said the collaboration with AIT had lots of potentials for Ghanaians to upgrade their skills without necessarily enrolling for full time.

She said that was an opportunity for women, especially to get into the system to improve themselves to hold leadership positions.

“With those opportunities, traditional women can still empower themselves economically to complement the efforts of their husbands,” she said.

She said total transformation could be achieved if parents instilled the positive side of education in their wards at early stage, adding, “in that way they will not see it as a punishment”.

Ms Nur Amirah, Staff of International Unit, OUM, said education could change one’s destiny and live and urged all to embrace education for total transformation and growth.