A Lawyer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Sunlodge Hotel, Mrs Jacqueline Obeng-Ansong, has urged tertiary graduates to maximise the full potential of AI and work with such new technologies to stay up with the world’s rapid evolution.
Consequently, she urged them to be attentive to their environment to notice gaps to help develop policy proposals that would help solve societal problems. Speaking at the 2024 congregation ceremony of the College of Education, University of Ghana, she said excellent work and ethics were a key determinant of career success and encouraged them to give their best to ensure excellence in everything.
The ceremony saw the graduation of 1,387 students who offered a Diploma in Accounting, a Diploma in Public Administration, a Diploma in Adult Education, a BSc in Nursing, a Diploma in Librarianship and a Diploma in Youth and Development.
Mrs Obeng-Ansong, therefore, encouraged the graduates to consider every task given them as an opportunity to learn and to serve well.
“You are leaving here at a time when there are limited jobs.
Again, you are graduating at a time when technology is at a neck-break speed and artificial intelligence is threatening to disrupt the labour market by replacing men with robots for higher productivity.
The risk of not finding a job is real and high,” she said.
Mrs Obeng-Ansong charged the graduands to find that one thing they could do to impact the world and not to blame others for their own inability to adapt to the changing circumstances.
She, therefore, encouraged the graduates to invest their time in keeping and maintaining those connections and relationships they had with their colleagues.
Achievements
Highlighting some strides of the university over the past years, the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research, Innovation and Development, Professor Felix Asante, said the school had introduced an “Open Randomised Bed Allocation System” to ensure a fair and transparent process in bed allocation.
It was also to offer students equal opportunity of being allocated a room irrespective of their internet connectivity status.
Prof. Asante said the Chair of the Governing Council launched an internship policy last year to ensure students were provided with meaningful internship experiences and to prepare them for successful careers in an ever-changing job market.
He said about 139 students were presented with laptops in November 2023, bringing to a total number of 309 laptops since August 2022, to ensure that all members of the university community had access to laptops at highly competitive prices.
Prof. Asante added that newly modernised classroom facilities were commissioned at the Jones Quartey Building and the Central Cafeteria to create conducive learning and teaching spaces for the students and faculty.
He said the school provided basic ICT training for seven visually impaired students towards ensuring digital inclusivity for all students.
He charged the graduates to be poised in stepping into a world that awaited their contributions, armed with the wisdom and values imparted by the great institution.
Appreciation
The Valedictorian, Emmanuel Kwao Mensah, with a final grade point average of 3.94, urged his colleagues to never let the world’s definition of what was possible keep them from achieving their goals and reminded them to make a difference in whatever they engaged in.
