Sam Jonah urges UCC to pioneer Africa's first vocational degree faculty, challenging Ghana's education model

Prominent Ghanaian businessman Sir Sam Jonah has issued a bold challenge to the University of Cape Coast (UCC), proposing it become Africa's first university to establish a full faculty offering bachelor's and master's degrees in vocational and applied skills. Speaking at the installation of UCC's new Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Gatsi Aheto, on Saturday, August 1, Sir Sam Jonah argued that Ghana's higher education system must fundamentally transform to produce graduates equipped with practical competence, not merely theoretical knowledge.

A new vision for African higher education

Sir Sam Jonah's proposal centres on creating degree programmes in renewable energy, aquaculture, construction, agri-food, healthcare, creative industries and Human-AI collaboration. Critically, the model would require students to demonstrate real competence before graduation. Under this framework, a Bachelor of Applied Skills in Renewable Energy Systems would mean no student could graduate without personally installing and maintaining a working solar installation. Similarly, aquaculture graduates would be required to produce a functioning fish farm, audited as a legitimate business operation.

He challenged the traditional engineering assessment model, proposing that instead of theoretical exercises like "describe a pump," students face real problems: "Here is a broken pump; the village is waiting; fix it." This approach, he argued, would reunite the certificate with actual competence—a separation that has plagued African universities for decades.

Why it matters for Ghana

Ghana's vocational education system has long been viewed as a secondary pathway compared to traditional university degrees. Sir Sam Jonah directly addressed this cultural barrier, noting that Ghanaians prioritise degree credentials even when practical skills would serve them better. Rather than fight this preference, he proposed embracing it by offering degrees that combine academic rigour with hands-on capability. This shift is particularly urgent as artificial intelligence reshapes global labour markets. Employers increasingly value what graduates can actually do, not just what they can recall from textbooks.

The proposal also positions Ghana strategically. Major economies including Germany, China, and the United States are already reforming their university curricula for the AI era. If UCC pioneered this model, Ghana could attract regional students and establish itself as a centre of innovation in African higher education. More importantly, it would address a critical skills gap: many Ghanaian industries—renewable energy, aquaculture, construction—are starved of workers who combine formal qualifications with practical expertise.

Addressing a persistent problem

Sir Sam Jonah rejected the popular criticism of "useless degrees," reframing the issue: there are no useless degrees, only degrees that have been separated from usefulness. His diagnosis points to a deeper structural problem in African universities—excessive reliance on memorisation and theory at the expense of application and problem-solving. He observed that too many graduates "leave university having memorised much and built little."

The businessman also drew inspiration from Germany's well-respected apprenticeship system, which integrates academic learning with workplace training at all levels. Ghana's vocational institutes have historically served as alternatives to university; his proposal would instead integrate vocational excellence into the university system itself, elevating its status and broadening its reach.

With his challenge now public, pressure will mount on UCC's leadership and Ghana's education sector to seriously deliberate this proposal. Whether such a faculty emerges may well define the University of Cape Coast's legacy and shape how African universities adapt to an increasingly skill-focused global economy.