The President of Academic City University, Professor Fred McBagonluri, has called on African learning institutions to collaborate and exchange ideas to advance engineering education on the continent.
He said the continent’s developmental agenda would depend heavily on engineering education rooted in industrialisation, local realities and indigenous knowledge systems.
“African institutions must stop relying solely on foreign models and rather develop engineering solutions suited to local conditions and challenges,” Prof. McBagonluri said.
He also said that Africa’s growing youth population and expanding middle class would make the continent increasingly important to future global industries and labour markets.
Event
Prof. McBagonluri was speaking at a maiden collaborative engineering education advancement (CEEA) in Africa summit in Accra, hosted by the university.
The three-day summit was on the theme: “Engineering education for a sustainable future in emerging economies.”
It was attended by academics, engineers, researchers, students and industry players from across the continent and other parts of the world.
They discussed the future of engineering education and industrialisation on the continent, collaboration among institutions, and the need to use engineering solutions to address emerging development challenges, particularly in Africa.
Potential
The General-Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Fiifi Kwetey, who was the guest speaker, called on the youth to lead Africa’s industrial and technological transformation through engineering, innovation and bold thinking.
Participants in the summit
He said that would enable the continent move beyond dependence on raw material exports to become a competitive force in global technological and industrial development.
Mr Kwetey, who was also a former Minister of Food and Agriculture, said Africa possessed enormous human and natural resources, but had failed to transform those advantages into technological and industrial progress.
“I believe that my generation will bring about the transformation of this continent, but today’s youth must take up that responsibility now.
“Young Africans should embrace engineering and innovation as tools for economic sovereignty and transformation.
This is because engineering remains central to development and building sustainable economies,” he added.
