Academic City University (ACU), Ghana, has reaffirmed its commitment to training graduates equipped to address Africa’s most pressing challenges through technology, entrepreneurship and leadership.

It, therefore, said that higher education on the continent must shift from theory-heavy instruction to practical problem-solving.

President of ACU, Prof. Fred McBagonluri, said the institution had positioned itself as a leading force in the transformation of higher education in Africa by placing innovation, entrepreneurship and hands-on learning at the centre of its academic model.

In a statement, McBagonluri said that Africa’s development would depend largely on its ability to equip young people with skills that translate directly into solutions, enterprises and leadership.

The statement came at a time when there is a growing debate across the region about the role of universities in tackling unemployment, skills gaps and technological dependence.

He said that ACU’s learning approach requires students to engage in projects, research, product development and entrepreneurial ventures throughout their period of study.

The aim, he said, was to ensure students graduate with both academic qualifications and direct experience of applying knowledge to real problems.

McBagonluri also highlighted the university’s growing regional footprint, noting that the institution has built a diverse academic community with students from more than 20 nationalities, with Nigerians constituting its largest international student group outside Ghana.

The President said that the university had graduated five cohorts of undergraduate students since its first commencement, and had also produced its first set of postgraduate students.

McBagonluri, while addressing the broader issue of how universities can remain relevant, emphasised the need to embed innovation into the core of tertiary education.

He said that the ACU is doing this through its technology and entrepreneurship centre, which provides students with mentorship, industry exposure and access to resources that help move ideas from concept to product and to viable businesses.

According to him, the emphasis on emerging technologies is deliberate, as the goal is to ensure graduates are not only consumers of technology, but are also able to develop, adapt and deploy it to solve local problems in healthcare, agriculture, energy, manufacturing and digital services.