The Faculty of Business of the Accra Technical University has been rechristened and unveiled as the ATU Business School.
The move is in line with the institution’s commitment to advance business education, innovation and industry-focused training.
At the official unveiling last Friday, the Chairman of the Governing Council of the ATU, Professor Ernest Kofi Abotsi, who cut the tape to unveil the school, said: “We do stand in the moment of history, as witnesses to the opportunity of re-christening but also redirecting the mission and mandate of this institution”.
He said business education must change and it was, therefore, not a change of name but a change in mindset, mission, direction, policy, value and resolve.
“This should be the moment when the school redefines what it means to be a business educated student, because we live in an era of disruption.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to change things and entry-level jobs are disappearing by the minute,” he said.
AI
Prof. Abotsi said for those who were students by the time they graduated, a lot of the jobs they knew would have been wiped out by AI.
For instance, today, he said AI could draft a number of things that could have taken them (students) days or months to draft in a matter of minutes or seconds.
“We have to train people to fill the gap where AI cannot and so it is imperative that as we launch this entity today, we reflect on what it means to be educated as a business student.”
He urged the leadership of the ABS to indulge in strategic leadership.
Milestone
The Vice-Chancellor of the ATU, Prof. Amevi Acakpovi, said the day marked another significant milestone in the transformation journey of the institution.
Some events, he said, simply marked the passage of time; others defined the future
“We are announcing a renewed identity, we are embracing a broader vision and we are not merely changing a name — we are repositioning ourselves to compete with the very best across Africa and the globe,” he said.
He said the journey to the event was not accidental; it had been a deliberate and rigorous as well as a collaborative one.
Prof. Acakpovi said the proposal to transform the faculty of business into the ATU Business School originated from the faculty.
Process
He said: “Today’s launch, therefore, represents the successful completion of an institutional process founded on consultations, good governance and also on strategic planning”.
He commended the dean, faculty members, staff and students for their vision, perseverance and commitment throughout the process.
On why the rechristening, Prof. Acakpovi said the world of business had changed dramatically and that the way business leaders were being educated must also change.
Business education, he said, must become practical, more industry-oriented and more globally connected.
“What you do here must not be too different from what is done somewhere else because it is the same thing we are achieving at the end,” he said.
Discerning
An internationally acclaimed marketing scholar, educator and industry leader, Prof. Robert Ebo Hinson, outlined seven things that must be done to ensure the right person leads the school to the top over the next three to five years.
He named them as discerning, intelligent, sensible, courageous, purposeful, avoiding evil and honour.
For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the McDan Group of Companies, Daniel McKorley, said every year tertiary institutions churn out thousands of business graduates.
Among other things, he said they recite theories contained in textbooks, but the moment they walk into an industrial office, they collapse under the weight of reality.
The Dean of the ATU Business School, Prof. Elikem Ocloo, said academic excellence remained central to the school’s mission.
