Accra, Sept. 23, GNA- Mr Koku Adomdza, spokesperson of the Volta Educational Foundation (VEFOUNDATION) has noted that although Africa is awash with fertile brains, who have excelled globally, the educational system does not produce technically based graduates to champion industrial breakthroughs.

He stressed that the current educational system lacks the courage to repackage teaching and research, the talent and manpower to produce the machinery, equipment and products, which would contribute to develop domestic economies and improve the quality and standards of living of the people. "Ghana, like most of Africa is a story of not only economic but intellectual tragedies where natural resources and talent abound, but are not directed at solving the economic under-development that continues to eclipse us," he said in a statement issued to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

The London-based Lawyer and Development Economists said the phenomenon had led to "the escalation of brain drain instead of brain gain", because graduates need employment to recoup the investments made towards their education. "Until education in Ghana and Africa is directed at producing graduates equipped with the capacity and resources to produce made-in-Ghana or Africa engines, spare parts, tractors, bulldozers, cars, computers.the power of education and knowledge and enlightenment as vehicles for economic emancipation would continue to sadly elude us for generations to come." The statement hailed the efforts by government and other stakeholders to establish a technical university in the Volta Region. "There is no suggestion that a technical university situated in the Volta Region would mop up all the multi-faceted problems of Africa, but it would be a trailblazing pioneering experience to manifest education as a tool of emancipation." The statement said VEFOUNDATION and its delivery agency the Volta Educational Trust, have thrown its weight behind the establishment of a university in the region. It said the university project would be a significant development in the educational history of the region and Ghana as a whole, chiefly because of the emphasis of the academic facility on science and technology and the application of knowledge to practical problems that confront society including education and employment. It said the university project is a huge opportunity to promote academic enterprise and knowledge transfer to give the local economy the manufacturing lift off that has become imperative. "Secondly, we believe that situating a university located in the Volta Region will not only be of benefit to the indigenes but like all other educational institutions, a facility for every qualifying Ghanaian".

It said the proposed university would ease the overcrowding in the existing publicly-funded universities. "Finally, but not the least, a perennial problem that besets some public-funded universities is the lack of a sustainable fundraising strategy and unhealthy balance sheets. "It is an imperative therefore that the new university proactively adopts the ethics, ethos and culture of academic enterprise into its corporate mindset to establish and maintain a sound sustainable funding foundation to ensure its vibrancy, viability, efficiency and longevity. VEFOUNDATION is an educational, enlightenment, empowerment policy think tank and sustainable development foundation.